The Shadow
by XxsleepycatxX
Summary: Shikamaru is a 16 year old normal teenager. Except for the fact that he is actually a secret detective. Only Asuma knows his secret, but when he is forced to go to school, his secret might be revealed. Rated T for troublesome violence. ShikaXtema, AsumaXKurenai, and possibly some others.
1. The shadow

Sleepy Cat: Hola people! This is my first fanfiction story, and I hope it's to your liking.

Now a couple things before we begin :)

This is a Shikatema story. ( sorry shikaIno fans :/ )

There is no Yaoi in this story...( sorry yaoi fans )

No copying ^_^

Disclaimer: The naruto tv show and characters do not belong me ( though if it did, I would rewrite it all! which is why there is fanfiction :3.)

-Enjoy the story-

~~~~~~The Shadow~~~~~~~

_Tokyo, greatly famed as the capital of Japan, is populated by at least eight million people. Everywhere you turn, you can expect to see amazing sights and spectacular wonders from the Ueno Park to the Imperial Palace. Tokyo is, in fact, a sight to see._

_However, even the most famed and populated cities in the world are not without it's defects. Tokyo is no exception. It's biggest defect of all is crime. _

_In fact, Tokyo has one of the largest records of criminal activity. Criminals roam the streets without anyone knowing it, and innocent lives can easily fall victim to anything from robbery to murder. It can happen anytime and anywhere. Tokyo is as dangerous as it is famous, and no one is safe on the streets anymore. _

_That is where I come in. My name is Asuma Sarutobi, and I work as an agent at the criminal investigation department of Tokyo. Our job is to keep the people of Tokyo safe and bring justice to all criminals. However, we cannot prevent all crimes and criminals because of the massive size of this city. It seems as time goes by, criminals become smarter by the second. Serial killers have been able to outsmart us plenty of times which places everything in chaos. However, even in chaotic times like those, we have always held the trump card. No matter how smart and devious the criminal was, he was no match for the infamous shadow._

_The shadow is a mysterious detective of Tokyo who is considered a genius and hero. However, he is no ordinary detective. He definitely lives up to his name, shadow, because he can solve cases without being seen by anyone. Yet, when he is seen, his identity is completely covered. He wears all black, including a black jacket with a hood to cover his hair. Although he wears black, he uses a white and red mask to conceal his face. The shadow keeps his identity a secret, believing it to be a weakness against his enemies if revealed. He trusts almost no one he meets and is always suspicious. His fighting skills are ones to fear, and he is more devious than any criminal. Why, he was able to defeat a serial killer and his gang all by himself. The shadow truly is the hero of Tokyo. _

_There is only one known person who knows the true identity of the masked man. One whom he trusts with his life. That person is none other than me, Asuma Sarutobi, the sexiest man in Tokyo. That's probably untrue though. People would always talk about the shadow and try to guess his identity. _

_Because of his gift of being a genius and skilled fighter, the shadow was believed to be a full-grown adult. I could only laugh at their guesses._

_But what they don't know is that the shadow was actually a sixteen year old teenager._

Sleepy cat: Hi like that so far?


	2. I'm going to what?

Sleepy cat: Hi again. Wow! Reviews already :D thank you T_T so touching!

Anywho...LETS BEGIN CHAPTER 2! X3

disclaimer: I still don't own naruto T_T awwwwwww

~~~~~~~~I'm going to what?~~~~~~~~~~

-Asuma's POV-

_Man, is it me or are work hours getting longer by the second?_I thought as I walk from work to my apartment. My apartment is not far away from where the department is, so it's no problem getting there. The scenery that I see basically everyday is amazing; the cherry blossoms are blooming and the weather is usually nice. However, today was not exactly pleasant.

Although it was only April, the weather is surprisingly hot, and now I would come home sweaty and smelly. It was so hot that I'm not in the mood to even have one cigar. This heat is really getting to me, and of course, I'm not exactly looking forward to coming home either.

See, I'm the only one who knows the Shadow's real identity, but not only that, I also take care of him. Although he is a world-wide famous detective, he is only sixteen, and trust me, if someone didn't take care of him, it would be a disaster.

The shadow is one of the strangest human beings I have ever met. His real name is Shikamaru, and whenever he's not on a case, he's the laziest teenager in the world. He sleeps till noon almost everyday

and takes naps every other hour. He rarely comes out of the apartment which also shows he's extremely anti-social. He believes people are troublesome and too much work. Besides me, he says there is no reason to trust anyone. Basically, I'm the only friend he has. His parents died when he was about three years old, and because I was good friends with them, I decided to take care of the little boy.

I forgot when he started to take interest in cases, but he was always a genius. Still, Shikamaru is indeed a strange teenager.

Because I got tired of his social issues, I made a big decision to which the genius might hate me for the rest of my life.

I finally arrived at my apartment, however, I'm a bit nervous to walk into my doom. I enter the apartment and sure enough, the whole apartment looks like a disaster. There's clothes everywhere, and the cushions from the couch are missing. There are several coffee stains all over the floor, and pencil markings all over the wall. As I look around I also happen to see a pair of my socks in the blender.

_Wait, why are my socks in the blender? And is that my last piece of pie in the coffee maker? And what are my cigars doing in the microwave? Jeez, that Shikamaru likes to experiment with my stuff, _I thought. Living with this guy is real tough work.

I look over to see a figure sitting on the ground facing the window. I guess he's playing that shogi game by himself again. As I walk toward him, he continues to play like he didn't even notice I was here.

"Yo," I simply say hoping to get an answer. Of course all I get is "hm" as a reply.

"I see you've made good use my last piece of pie," I stated, "I assume another one of your experiments?"

"You assume correctly. I didn't think needed that last piece anyway." Shikamaru said. _Wow, he speaks._

I thought.

"Also, why is my pair of socks in the blender?" I asked. "Eh, I had to put them somewhere." he said.

_Jeez, why does he have to be so lazy. Of all places, he puts them in a blender. _

I decided to change the subject. "There's a festival starting today. How about you and I go check it out?" I said, hoping for a chance to get him out of the apartment.

"hn, festivals are troublesome. I have no reason to go there. The people there are crazy, and you can never guess what evil intentions they have planned." he said.

_This kid is ridiculous._ "That's always your excuse, Shikamaru," I stated, " You have to get out. This is definitely not healthy for you."

"I'm fine where I am and completely healthy. I do in fact get out a lot," he insisted.

"Cases don't count. You don't have any fun, and besides me, you don't have any friends. You're a teenager, and you need live your life to the fullest," I said. _Should I tell him now?_

"All that sounds too troublesome. You're my friend, and that's all I need." Shikamaru stated.

_That's it. I'm telling him right here and now. _

"Shikamaru, you are indeed the best detective in the world. You are a genius that no one has seen. But as your care taker, I must make sure you are taken care of and keep you healthy and safe. Staying in this apartment is not healthy for you. You need friends. You need to be with people your age. Your ant-social issues have gone way to far.

That is why... starting tomorrow, you are going to school at Konoha High School, and that is final!"

Sleepy cat: hehehehehe, poor shikamaru. He gets to feel the pain of school :D


	3. Evil awakening!

Sleepy Cat: Hi again. Get ready for chapter 3 :3 to clarify somethings: Asuma is in his late 20s, Shikamaru's parents died in a car accident, and shikamaru does not know how to cook XD

-If you want meh to explain something just send a message!-

disclaimer: yes, yes, I don't own naruto ( but one day I shall take over the world and naruto shall be mine! ) XD

enjoy!

~~~~~~~~Evil Awakening~~~~~~~~~

-No one's POV-

Everyday in Tokyo is always a sunny one. People walk through the streets all happy and cheerful. Small children come out to play in the beautiful parks and gardens full of cherry blossoms. Birds fly over the tall buildings singing their sweet melody for all to hear. Tokyo is definitely a bright place to be, and the sun shines it light everywhere.

However, there were a few places the sun could not reach. In deep alleys of Tokyo, no one dared to enter there. The alleys reeked with darkness and evil. It was best for anyone to stay away from there.

Yet, a cloaked figure made his way through the dark narrow alleys. Three other figures followed closely behind. The three were a bit shorter than the cloaked figure and appeared to be younger. All three were siblings. There was only one girl and she was the youngest. She appeared to look nervous and sad while her brothers only had emotionless stares.

The three siblings and the cloaked continued there path until they reached a worn out warehouse. The warehouse used to be a factory, but it was abandoned after a fire. All four entered the building but none of them said one word.

"You're late," said a deep voice.

"I had to pick these three up, Itachi," stated the cloaked figure, "It's not my fault."

"But they are your responsibility, Sasori," said Itachi, " you are their step-brother."

Sasori ignored his comment and sat on an old rugged chair. The three siblings continued to stand and remained silent.

More cloaked figures appeared. There were about nine to ten of them, and each had coat with red clouds. Itachi stood by a tall man who had lightly blue skin and dark blue hair. His name is Kisame who definitely looked like a shark. Beside him were Hidan, a man with gray hair and purple eyes, and Kakuzu, a dark skinned man with a mask to cover his stitches on his face. Next to Sasori was deidara, a man with yellow hair as bright as the sun. He had a mouth on each of his hands and a secret one on his chest. The two beside him were Tobi, a man with a orange mask that covered his whole face except for an opening for his right eye, and Zetsu, a man with oddly colored skin. Half of him was black while the other was white. He had green hair, but the strangest thing about him is that he is partly a venus-fly trap. In the center of this group were two figures, a man and a woman. The man, named pein, appeared to be the leader of the group. He had orange hair and several piercings all over his body. The woman, named Konan, had blue hair with a paper rose, and had one piercing under her lower lip.

Each of these members were apart of the group called the Akatsuki, a deadly group who committed many crimes but were never caught.

The three siblings however were not exactly members of this group. Their were more like pawns to them. The three siblings were Gaara, the oldest, then Kankuro, and then Temari, the Youngest. Because their father died, their mother married another man who had Sasori, their step-brother. However, when both the mother and step-father died from a murder, Sasori was forced to take care of the three siblings. Eventually, Sasori joined the akatsuki and forced the siblings to come along against their will.

Finally, after everyone was there and accounted for, the leader began the meeting.

"As you all know, Japan and China are at each others throats, and war can begin at any moment. Our job is to make sure that happens in order to weaken both countries. This shall help us achieve our ultimate goal. We will eventually be able to control both countries."

"How exactly will we be able to do that?" asked Kisame.

"Hmp, sounds like another one of your crazy plans. Just make sure Deidara doesn't lose on of his arms again." said Hidan.

"That was not my fault, un." implied Deidara.

"Uh-huh, and what about the time you blew up our last hideout?" yelled Hidan.

"Enough! I have the perfect plan to take over these two countries. Hidden all over japan are powerful gems called the Ryu gems. They harness unimaginable power, and with these, there will be no one to stop us. Once we control Japan and China, many others will follow, and soon the world will be in our hands!" explained Pein.

"What about the shadow?" asked Tobi.

The room became so dead silent for several seconds that you could hear some breathe from across the room. Then Pein spoke up:

"The shadow is indeed a powerful detective and is dangerous. However, he is no match to the akatsuki. If he gets in the way, he shall be destroyed."

"What do we do with Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari?" asked Konan.

"Gaara and Kankura will be helpful in our plan. Temari though is still too young and useless for our plan. However, we can't leave her here doing nothing. We shall send her to school so that she will finally be useful to our cause. Temari, you are to start school at the Konoha High School, and you will remain there until we need you." explained Pein.

With that, the meeting was adjourned, and each member took their exit.

The three siblings followed Sasori as they left the warehouse.

Temari remained silent but in her mind she troubled. _At least I can stay away from this group as much as I can. But Gaara and Kankuro...they will have to be forced to be pawns for the akatsuki to do their evil will. I wish there was some way...just some way...to be free from all this..._

_I just...want to be free..._

Sleepy Cat: awww poor Temari T_T I wanna give her a hug. Well that took a while XD


	4. At least you don't have to wear uniforms

Sleepy Cat: boy, I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while! Get ready for it :D

-Yes I did make Temari the youngest of the sand siblings. She's the same age as Shikamaru.

Heheheheheh this is the fun chapter x3

Disclaimer: I still don't own naruto...it's a cruel cruel world. :/

~~~~~~~At least you don't have to wear uniforms~~~~~~~~

-Asuma's POV-

After telling Shikamaru the big news, I thought I had placed a big target at the back of my head. For someone as lazy as him, he whined and argued constantly throughout the day. However, my word is final, and he was going to school even if I have to drag him there. He amazingly calmed down, but he's still against the idea of school.

_Hmph, he should consider himself lucky. He only has to go to school for about two to three years. _I thought. _Its a whole new world in school. This will definitely be good for him. _

I had one last cigarette before going to bed, and then I was out like a light. _I sure hope this is a good idea..._

_-_**The next morning- **

Waking up at six in the morning for me is definitely no problem, but for Shikamaru, it's a complete torture. At breakfast, he looked half-dead, and he eventually fell asleep, slamming his head into his cereal. He didn't mind though. Getting a few naps in is just fine with him.

Shikamaru decided to wear black turtle-neck shirt and black pants. Not exactly what I would wear on the first day of school, but this is Shikamaru anyway.

The Konoha High School was very close to my apartment and job, so we just decided to walk there.

Unlike yesterday, today is more cold which is just right for the month of April. I enjoyed the cold more than the heat because I didn't end up all sweaty. What really makes this trip nice is that Shikamaru remained quiet. I can't blame him. He's used to waking up at noon than six in the morning. He just has to get used to it. At least he doesn't have to wear **uniforms.**

The Konoha High School finally came into view, and I decided that I didn't need to walk him to school anymore. It's not like he's a kindergarten anyway.

" Well, I guess I'll see you later Shikamaru. Remember to make friends. It will make school a lot less troublesome. Later." I said simply as I begin to walk away.

_Good luck..Shikamaru..._

**-Shikamaru's POV-**

Troublesome...just troublesome...

Now that Asuma's gone, I'm on my own. I begin to walk to front yard of the school.

_I feel like I'm walking towards my own doom. I still don't understand why I have to go to school. School is unimportant and unnecessary. This is definitely going to be a drag, and I don't need friends. _

_They just end up stabbing you in the back. This is just great...just great..._

When I came to front of the school, I got the full view of Konoha High. Indeed, it is impressively large. _I just hope I don't get lost in there. _I thought.

Asuma was right. This school has a lot of students, and I'm only on the outside of the school. I start walking up the long stairs when a certain someone catches my eye. It was girl laying on the grass by herself. She had blonde hair tied up in four pigtails, and she seemed to be my age. She didn't move and kept her eyes fixed on the sky. Suddenly, she looks over to see me staring at her. It's like she sensed me staring at her or something. I shook my head and continued to walk up the stairs.

Sure enough, the building inside was stacked with floods of teenagers. This was going to be hard to get around. I decide to see the principal, seeing that I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm surprised I found the principal's office in this large school so quickly. I knock on the door to me greeted by woman with black short hair with black eyes.

"Welcome, welcome. I'm Shizune, the vice-principal. Your Shikamaru, the new kid. Am I correct?" said Shizune. I nodded.

"Well, the principal will be here in just a second. So just go on and take seat." she continued.

I nodded again and sat on the nearest chair I could fine. I was still tired, and I don't know how much more I can take.

After a minute or two, a tall woman with blonde hair placed into two very low ponytails. She smiled and said,

" Hello Shikamaru. I'm glad you've decided to join our school. I hope you aren't intimidated by the size of the school. It's actually hard to get lost in this building, so I think you'll be fine. I have your locker number with its combination and your class schedule. I hope you enjoy you first day here."

She then hands me a few pieces of paper. Thank goodness there's a map.

I walk out of the office to find my locker in this big mass of people. It took me a while, but I found it. It was pretty small though, and sadly, it's a bottom one. _Jeez, that's just great. I get the bottom one. _

I only brought a few supplies so I still have plenty of room in my locker. I sure hope I can remember my combination though...

"Hey!" I heard someone say, and I look over to see the one shouting.

A guy about my age was walking over to me. He seems to be a little over-weight, and his brown hair is extremely long.

"You're the new guy right?" the stranger said. I simply nodded.

"Cool! I'm Choji! I believe will be in the same classes together, so I decided to introduce myself." he said.

"I'm Shikamaru." I said. _He doesn't seem half as bad. _

"Since you're new, I'll be your guide around this school. I don't think we can tour right now. The bell is about to ring, so let's go!" He said happily.

I decided to just go with. It's good thing I have a guide. Now, I won't get lost. _It's just funny though how all these people don't even know that the famous shadow is walking by them. _

I followed Choji to the homeroom where a bunch of people were chit-chatting like little birds. I sat by the window while Choji sat right beside me. I began to scan the room when a familiar sight came into view.

It was that blonde girl with the pigtails I saw outside the school. _Jeez, dumb luck, huh? _She was sitting in the very back and was talking to no one. I decided it was best to not make contact with her.

The bell finally went off, and everyone took a seat. However, there wasn't a teacher in sight.

After a few minutes, a man walked in who I assume is the teacher. Most of the students yelled at him for being late, so I guess isn't his first. He had white hair and was fairly tall. He was wearing a black scarf that covered his mouth. _That's a bit odd..._

"Good morning, my lovely students. Sorry I was late. The cherry blossoms were lovely today, and I just had to stop to look at them," he implied.

"Yeah right, that's a bunch of bull! That's always your excuse, Kakashi-sensei!" yelled a student who had bright yellow hair and blue eyes. Choji told me his name was Naruto, the loudest kid in the school.

"Aww, you don't believe me?Well, anyway I believe we have two new students today. It's strange both of you came so late in the year," said Kakashi.

_There's another student?_

Kakashi then introduced me to the class. Strangely enough, the next student was none other than the mystery girl. Her name is Temari, and by the sound of her attitude, she definitely not happy. _ I'm not either. I was forced to go here. _

One class after the other, my suspicions were true. I already know all this, and there's no reason for me to stay here. I'm surprised some of the other students found it hard.

At the ring of the bell, it was finally lunch, and I thought it would never get here.

I decided to sit by Choji since he's taken a liking to me. There were four other boys from our class sitting by us who seemed to be friends with Choji.

The food looked and smelled awful. It was like a freak show in one big slump of mush. I took one bite of it, and I almost choked. I thought I was going to throw up.

"Don't like the food, huh?" asked Choji.

"It's different." I simply said. Different as in the most discusting thing in the whole world.

"It tastes like crap," stated Naruto, the loud kid from earlier.

"The smell is killing me. I don't think my nose can take much more of it," complained a brown haired boy name Kiba who sat across from Naruto. The two other boys were Shino and Sai who both remained quiet.

I decided to look around the cafeteria, and I recognized a boy from class. He has bluish-black hair with black dull. He sat by himself and rarely touched his food. I learned his name was Sasuke Uchiha. I believed he's already in charge of the Uchiha company. I heard that his family had died though I don't know from what. From him, I looked to group of four sitting at the back of the cafeteria. There were three guys and one girl, and all of them looked creepy.

"Those guys call themselves the sound four. Their basically the bullies of this school. If you just stay out of their way, they'll leave you alone. No one can match them," said Choji.

_Hn, I highly doubt that. Bullies are just scum to me, and it is they who are no match for me. Yet, I keep forgetting these people don't know Im the shadow. I need to keep a low profile to hide my identity. _

"Those guys are a bunch of jerks," growled Kiba.

"Yea, one of these days their gonna get it!" yelled Naruto.

"They don't seem much. Bullies are just a bunch of small-minded scum. " I stated out loud. I guess a bit too loud because that got their attention.

My table became silent as these sound four bullies came right up to us. Their leader seemed to be a white haired man with pale skin. He was extremely strange looking. The leader came right behind me and Choji.

"So you're the new guy, huh? Now why didn't you five dorks introduce me? I'm Sakon, and you better watch what you say or you'll get in big trouble." explained the leader. _Please, like I'm scared of a bully like you. You're getting on my nerves right away._

"Shikamaru can say anything he wants to. You're not his boss, yelled Choji. _ I was a bit surprised at this response from Choji. _

"What are you gonna do about it, chubby? You can't hurt me, loser." Sakon taunted. He then grabbed Choji's shoulder and said,

"Well? Are you gonna do anything about or be the coward that your are?" He squeezed harder, but Choji would not fight back. _This is going a bit to far. These guys are a real drag. _

I felt as if I had no control over my body and actions as my hand grabbed Sakon's wrist, twisting and squeezing it as hard as I can, making him squeel in pain.

Everyone was silent and shocked at what I had just done. I continue to squeeze and then said,

"I have little patience for bullies like you. So why don't you leave before I do some damage."

"Y-You little...!" he gasped as he threw his other fist at my face which I gracefully caught. I got up and freed one of my hands, letting it crush into Sakon's nose dead-on. This sent him flying backwards hittin a table behind. He gasped in pain while holding a bloody nose. He signaled the rest of his group to leave, and he followed as well. _Jeez, how troublesome. I think I just earned a new enemy. What a drag..._

The rest of the day was just normal. I continued to get praises from Choji and his friends for standing up to Sakon. _He was only getting on my nerves, and that is all. I believe Sakon stayed in the nurses office for a very long time. _

School finally ended, and walked out of the school building. On the front yard, there on the grass was Temari. It seems like she's not in a hurry, but I wonder why?_ Eh, that's not my problem. I just need to get home. _

I get home to see Asuma on the couch smoking and watching tv. He smiles and asks how my day was.

I simply just said,

"Troublesome."

Sleepy cat: holy cow that was a long chapter o.O and you guys get to see shikamaru ticked off XD yay


	5. Boom! Suspicions aroused!

Sleepy Cat: Welcome back! I might be slower making the next couple chapters because of summer homework for school -_- Their just cruel. Oh well, just don't get mad at me T_T

anywho...how did you like the chapter before? that was extremely long. I doubt this one will be as long :P

Disclaimer: Naruto is NOT mine T_T /3

enjoy!

~~~~~~~Boom! Suspicions aroused!~~~~~~

-Shikamaru's POV-

School is definitely troublesome. On the first day, I made a few enemies, and now they'll want some payback. _Jeez, that's just great, and I thought I was going to keep a low profile. But I just had to follow my instinct, and now everyone knows me. What a drag.._

The next day of school was pretty normal. I'm still not used to waking up so early in the morning, and it's gonna take me forever to get used to. This time I walked by myself because Asuma has to go early to work today, and besides, I know where the school is now.

Just like yesterday, Temari, the mystery girl, was staring at the sky, not moving an inch. She still has the same look she had yesterday; sad and depressed. Although I was a bit curious to why, I thought it was best for me to stay out of her business.

After I dumped my books into my locker, I was immediately greeted by Choji. _He's not that bad I guess. He did help me get through my first day of school. I think I gained his respect after knocking the bully off his feet. Hmph, that guy was stupid enough to challenge me. _

Kakashi-sensei was late again and received the same response from his class from yesterday. Our history teacher was Jiraiya-sensei who was an old friend of the principal. However, we didn't get anywhere because all he talked about were his porn books and women. Our gym teacher was Gai-sensei, and he was one freaky man. He wore a green jumpsuit with bright orange leg warmers. His hair was black and shiny, and his eyebrows were HUGE. I swear I saw a twin of him somewhere in the junior class. Kurenai-sensei was our science teacher, and she had brown hair and reddish eyes. She's so far the most normal out of all the teachers.

I didn't see the sound four though. _Maybe I scared them off. Hmph, less trouble for me anyway. _

Lunch is still gross. The smell's even worse today. _What do they put in there? Dead mice? Live spiders? Probably something they found on the floor. It's even worse then my cooking, and that's hard to do. _

School ended quickly today, and I'm definitely ready to go home. Choji decided to come with me because he said his house is near where I live. We walked through the streets of Tokyo, and I remained silent most of the way while Choji started talking about some story. I'm not exactly listening though.

_This feels really strange. I felt like I haven't been on a case since forever. If I don't get a case soon, I __might go crazy. I think Asuma is holding back on me because I started this school thing. He'll eventually let me back in a case, and the shadow will as usual save the day. Hmph, oh well. I'll just have to-_

"Shikamaru!" Choji interrupted, "Look!" He pointed to something ahead, and I looked to see what was that seemed to be so important to interrupt my thoughts.

There was a big mass of people up ahead, and there were plenty of other people running up to see what was going on. At some point, I was able to see smoke rising from the building they were running towards. Choji and I finally joined the crowd to see what had happen.

My eyes widen has I saw the horrific scene that was before the crowd. A building had been completely destroyed. It was all rubble, and there were a few fires. I believe this was the library, but I rarely came here. Policemen came and calmed down the crowd, saying that they had it under control. I could spot a couple fire trucks on the other side of the building, and a bunch firemen went to work. The chief police man told the crowd that building was destroyed by a bomb. At first, the crowd was deadly silent,but then it was broken by many whispers. I could hear a few of them.

"Do you think there will be more?"

"Who could have done this?"

"I bet it's the Chinese."

"This is their fault."

There were plenty of whispers that were basically the same thing. If there's something like this happens in Japan, the Japanese immediately blame the Chinese.

_I don't believe this is the doing of the Chinese. They don't have the guts to do this, and even if they did, why the library anyway? However, I can't say my beliefs are true without good strong proof. Maybe I can investigate this myself. I'll wait till night so it'll be easier and with less people to worry about. Asuma said he was coming home late tonight so I don't have to worry about him. _

"Shikamaru," said Choji, "I'm heading home. I'm getting hungry anyway. See ya later!"

I nodded and decided it was best for me to go home. _I'll need to rest up for tonight. Now that I think about it, I'm hungry as well. I sure hope there's something in the fridge that I don't have to prepare myself. I might blow up the building with my awful cooking skills. _

I could see the apartment building from here and started thinking about tonight.

_I just need to find a few clues and then I can leave. Sounds simple enough. It will be hard to spot me at night so I think I'll be good. _

_Hmph, this is definitely going to be easy..._

**Sleepy Cat: **Hehe, Oh shikamaru, you are dead wrong. :D hehehehehe


	6. Man, could this get anymore troublesome?

**Sleepy cat:** Hola people! Just to give a heads up! I'm gonna be gone all next week so I won't be able to make chapters. SOO I'll write as many chapters as I can. :3 I'ma miss you guys T_T

Disclaimer: Naruto is mine! nah i'm just kidding =_= its not fair though..

enjoy chapter 6!

**~~~~~~~~Man, could this get any more troublesome?~~~~~~**

-Shikamaru's POV-

_This is going to be totally easy. _I thought as I started packing supplies that I usually bring. My knife is pretty dirty, but I don't have time to wash it now. I'll possibly need a flashlight, but I can't use it much. It might draw attention to me. _I sure hope Asuma doesn't mind me borrowing his gun. _I also took a little smoke bomb. _I might need this later. _

I checked my watch to check if I would be on time. _11:45 pm. Asuma must have a lot of work for staying up this late. He's only had a few late work nights. Hmp, exactly why I don't have a job. _

I finally dressed into my black clothes and grabbed for my mask. _Wow, it's been a while since I've been in these clothes. They feel tighter. Am I getting bigger? Great, it's probably that food I eat at that school. _

I placed my mask and a few more supplies into my bag. I don't need to wear it just yet. It might draw attention to me._ Wait why did I get a white mask in the first place? Oh yea, Asuma got it. A white mask with black clothes; that's a really stupid idea. This is mask is just like a sign that says " Oh look at me, I'm the shadow. Come shoot at me!" Hmph, oh well. I haven't died yet so it's still good. _

I walked out of the back of the apartment building and put my hood on. I headed for the former library.

_It's only going to take a few minutes. Easy as pie..._

-Choji's POV-

"Sure is nice outside." I said to myself as I walked out of my house. I decided to take a little walk. I wasn't sleeping well, and food wasn't helping either. Everyone is asleep so I didn't want to stay in the house. I think a little fresh air will be good. I decided to walk around Tokyo. No one should be awake so no one should care.

I passed Shikamaru's apartment. _He's probably asleep too. None of the apartment lights are on. _

I walked pass many of the tall buildings of Tokyo, and soon the destroyed library came into view. _I'm going to miss that library. It was very popular in Tokyo, and there were thousands at the library everyday. I heard a lot of people died, and many more injured. Was it the Chinese? And is this an act of war? I sure hope that-_

My thoughts were interrupted when I saw a figure walking to the destroyed library. I walked a bit closer to see who it was.

"What? Is that Shikamaru?" I wondered, " What's he doing here?" I was barely able to tell it was him. That hood was basically covering his face, and the darkness wasn't helping either. But he had a big mustard stain on his backpack. Yesterday, I spilled mustard on his backpack on accident, but I didn't tell him.

_I probably shouldn't follow him, but I'm extremely curious. _I walked into the direction of the library.

_What is he doing?_

-Shikamaru's POV-

_I haven't seen anyone yet, so that's good. _I thought as I walked closer and closer to what's left of the library. There were still a few walls left, and the front door was still there. _I'll just go around to the back...if there is even back left. _

I walked around the library to the back to see a few walls also still standing. I had to climb in because of all the rubble. I got a couple scratches from wood all the wood that were sticking out from everywhere. _I already get scratches, and I'm not even in the library. Hmp, How troublsome.._

There was amazingly still some floor left. This place was a three story building so I'm guessing since the floor on the first floor is still intact, the bomb was probably on the secondor third story. However, the third floor was completely wiped out, and the some of the second was gone as well. So, I could only do the first and second floor.

I decided to go the second floor and walked up the creaking stairs. _I'll have to be extra careful. This second floor is probably not that strong, and these stairs are about to give way. I can't make mistakes. _

When I reached the second floor, I assumed that the walls would give me enough cover, so a mask was not needed. I took out my flashlight, and went to work.

The opposite side of the second floor was completely gone which led me to think the bomb was placed there. There were a bunch of burned books scattered everywhere. I looked for signs and clues that would useful. So far all I found were rubble, books, and a hand..._An ARM?_

I felt the urge to puke my lunch from school._ Jeez, it smells...wait, is that a mouth on its hand? That's...just weird. Why the heck is there a mouth on the hand? _

I looked a bit closer, and spotted some white material on the hand. I took a piece of it and smelled it to see if I recognize it. _It smells like..._

"Clay?" I wondered.

I looked up at the walls and the same material was splattered all over the walls._ More clay? Why would there be clay all over the walls? And especially in a library. This is strange. _

The other side of the floor was covered in clay, both normal and burnt. _This is definitely odd. Looks like I'm taking this arm back home. Asuma is definitely not going to like this. I'll take a sample of this clay too. Ah jeez, the smell is getting worse. The apartment is going to smell like- _

"Shikamaru!" interrupted a loud voice from below.

_What? Did someone see me? Crap, my cover's blown. _

"Shikamaru! It's Choji!" said the voice. _Choji? What the heck is he doing here? Did he follow me?_

"Choji! What are you doing here? I asked.

"I was taking a walk when I saw you enter this building. I was curious so followed you into the building. I'm coming up!" he answered. _ Great, just great. I should have been more careful. I'm such an idiot! This is such a drag!_

Choji finally made it up the stairs. _How the heck did he not break those stairs? _

"Yo Shikamaru, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"I..um...well...you see..." I began.

Suddenly a big crash from below roared through the building. I told Choji to shut up, and then I looked through a whole in the floor to see what was up.

I spotted three big men in black suits. Each had a gun, and one with a bucket. All three were Japanese.

"Let's get this over with. I just want to get my money." said the first man.

"We have to do a good job or they'll have our heads." said the second man.

"Why couldn't they clean this themselves? If they want to start a war between the Chinese and Japanese, they have to do this themselves!" complained the third.

_I wonder who "they" are? And their trying to start a war? Now I definitely believe this isn't the Chinese at work. Now should I take them out or should I-_

_**Creeeeeeeeeek..**_

"Choji! Don't move," I whispered.

"Hey! Who's up there?" Yelled the first man.

_Dang it, we're blown. I'll have to put my mask on but Choji...jeez I thought this was going to be easy._

"Shikamaru! What are we going to do?" wimpered Choji, " We're going to be dead for sure. I couldn't have one last meal before-"

"Keep your voice down!" I told him. The three men were walking towards the stairs. _ I'll have to act fast. _

"Choji, whatever you see tonight you must keep to yourself. Don't tell anyone else!" I instructed him as grabbed my bag.

"But why-" Choji began but was silenced when I grabbed both my mask and my gun. His eyes were wider than softballs.

"I'll explain later, but you must follow my every order. Got it?" I told him as I put my mask on. I simply nodded.

The men were already walking up the stairs, and I grabbed Choji's arm and dragged him behind a burnt desk.

The men finally reached the floor, but saw no one in sight.

"I'm sure I heard someone up here," said the first man.

"Heh, you're just hearing things now," teased the second.

"Let's get to work. I'm getting tired," said the third.

"ACHOOOOOOOO!"

_What the heck, Choji? Jeez, here we go.._

"Whoever is there, come out before things get dirty," yelled the first man.

_Wait, I still have..._

I grabbed out of my bag the smoke bomb I packed earlier. Without any second thought, I threw it at the men's feet, and smoke immediately burst forth. Right away, I grabbed Choji and ran passed the men to the stairs.

"Hey! Their getting away!" said the third man as they started running after the smoke started to clear.

_The quickest way out is through the way I came in. I just need to get there quick enough. _

However, the men were already down the stairs and shooting away. I slammed Choji and myself to the ground, covering him.

It took about five minutes till they stopped shoot. I whispered to Choji,

"Choji, you're gonna run for the exit and I'll distract them. Got it? No mistakes!"

Choji nodded, and I looked for the best way to distract them. Right away I saw the best option. A big chandelier was right above there heads. _All I have to do is to make sure that chandelier falls. _

Immediately, I shot at the chandelier. One of my bullets hit the support for the chandelier which made it fall toward the men.

"Choji! Go!" I yelled. He didn't hesitate a bit. He was out like a light.

The men were able to get out of the way, but the impact of the chandelier created more smoke and dust.

I decided to take advantage of this.

I jumped in front of the first man who tried to shoot at me, but I grabbed his wrist, squeezing it so hard he dropped his gun. The second's reaction was to shoot at me as well. I used the first man as a shield, and he was shot instead of me. I grabbed my knife, throwing it straight into the second's heart. I dropped the first man, but the third one was no where in sight. I guess made a run for it. _Such a big coward..._ _I'm guessing he's going to report this to whoever hired him. _

I looked through the first and second's pockets to see if they had anything to reveal. However, all I found was an address of the library, and the what they were supposed to do. They were here to clean up evidence. _ Whoever did this definitely wants to frame the Chinese. _

I climbed out of the building to find Choji waiting. He was pretty silent, but I don't blame him. This was a bit too much for him. I told him we had to take a different route home. He simply nodded, and we began to walk away.

He was pretty much silent the whole trip until...

"So does this mean your the shadow?" he asked. _After seeing that and my mask, I have to make keep the secret._

"Yea, I was supposed to go alone. I was looking for evidence and clues. But now you're involved so you have to keep the secret. You can't tell anyone about this. Not your parents, your friends, the principal...heck not even to any of your pets. Promise me you'll keep the secret." I told him.

"Don't worry! You're secret is safe with me! It's just so cool to meet you in person. You're like my hero! You're totally awesome and loved how you took down those guys and.." He continued to fanboy all over me all the way home. We both separated and went on our way.

_Jeez, what a drag. This definitely was NOT easy at all..._

**Sleepy cat: **dang I didn't know it would be this long o.O yay shikamaru kicked butt!


	7. Watch out for the yellow scorpion!

Sleepy cat: hi again! I took a nice shower before this, but now I'm tired T_T. I also watched Bongcheon Dong Ghost, a scary/horror Korean comic. o_O I almost crapped my pants. I didn't expect that. Go check it out if you haven't seen it! :D

~There were a couple questions from the reviewers about Shikatema. Yes, don't worry! There will definitely be a lot of shikatema in this! It's going to be so complex, cool, and frustrating at the same time :D even I can't believe I'm doing this. Hehehehehe :D it's just da beginning for them!~

Disclaimer: It ain't mine I tell, but I realized that if I did, ( In shikamaru terms ) it would be a drag XD

enjoy chapter 7!

~Watch out for the Yellow Scorpion!~

_Yesterday's little Investigation-gone-wrong is definitely taking it's toll on me. I don't even want to wake up. I'm more tired than ever. I couldn't have guess all the unexpected things that happened to me during that event. Now Choji knows my secret, and I just pray he won't let it out to the world. _I thought as I was slowly rising from my bed. _I might as well get out of bed. Asuma will probably drag me out of bed if I don't. _

_Speaking which, I'm curious to why he was so late coming home. Even I beat him back home from my trip to the library. I'll just have to ask..._

I walked out my room to the kitchen to find a very tired Asuma. He looked worse than me which was a big surprise.

"Asuma, why were you gone for so long last night?" I asked.

"I..uh...I had to uh... do.. a lot of paperwork. Yep, that's it," he said. I wasn't believing it for a second.

"Even you wouldn't stay there for that long just for some paper work. Tell me the truth, Asuma," I insisted.

"I-I was just meeting up with a girl! T-That's all!" he insisted. _A girl? Hmph, that's no surprise. _

"Hm," I replied, deciding to drop the subject. I got a bowl of my cereal and started eating while trying to support myself so I wouldn't fall into my cereal again.

"Enough about me, you look awful. What did you do? Run all over Tokyo?" He asked.

"Sorta," I said. I told him the whole story about the library, the three men, and Choji. He pretty much had a shocked face throughout the whole story.

"Wow, that was some night, haha. So, you believe you can trust this kid?" He said.

"I think I can. He seems to respect and admire me so I believe it will be no problem." I answered. He simply nodded. After that, he started dozing off on and on. I didn't mind though; I didn't feel like talk much. I got my clothes on, and started packing my backpack when the doorbell started ringing. I answered it since Asuma seemed in no shape to do anything except stare at a wall and drool.

"Choji?" I said as I recognized the familiar figure from yesterday.

"Yo! I decided to stop by since I have a lot of time before school starts. Can I come in? He said. I nodded, and allowed the new comer in. Asuma interrupted his drooling to turn around and wave hi, saying,

"Hey, you're Choji right? Shikamaru told me good things about you. I'm his lovable and cool care-taker, haha." He told Choji with a laugh.

"It's nice to meet you, Asuma-san," Choji politly said.

"Shikamaru's about ready go. He's excited for another school day, isn't he?" Asuma teased.

"Hmph," I said as I went back to my room to retrieve my bag. I came back, said good-bye to Asuma, and left with Choji.

"So about yesterday..." I began. _Will he be able to keep my secret?_

"Don't worry about it!" he smiled, "Your secret is safe with me. I promise you that." He gave me a thumbs up and chuckled a bit.

I briefly smiled. _He's definitely a rare one..._

We finally reached school. _Still crowded as ever. I wonder if any of them even know about the library. _

I looked around the yard. There was no sight of that mystery girl, Temari, anywhere. _I wonder where she is. Wait, why am I so curious about her? I thought I wasn't going to get in her business. Jeez, stupid mind of mine..._

I dumped of stuff into my locker and followed Choji to our homeroom. Immediately, we were greeted by a somewhat excited Naruto,

"Hey! Did you two hear about the library? It was totally destroyed! People say it's the Chinese. Who do you guys think did it?"

"I'm not sure but-" I started but was interrupted by a girl with long blonde hair.

"It's totally the Chinese!" the girl said. I learned her name was Ino.

"Those Chinese need to butt out of our country, Cha!" said a very angry pink-haired girl named Sakura.

"I-I hope t-this d-d-doesn't start a..a.. war. T-That would b-be t-terrible," stuttered a very shy girl will dark bluish hair.

"Hinata, there's no reason to stutter. Don't be so shy!" said Naruto cheerfully. Hinata blushed to all different types of red. _I can definitely tell she has a crush on this naruto guy, but he's probably oblivious to it. _

I started to walk to my desk when I over-heard a conversation.

"Has anyone seen Temari?" asked Ino. I stopped suddenly, hoping to hear what's up. _Great, I'm going curious again..._

"I haven't," said Sai. _Wow, he speaks. All I see him doing is draw on a bunch of scrolls. _

"She's usually the first one here," pointed out Kiba.

"That's true. I wonder why she's late all of the sudden." Sakura stated.

The bell rang and everyone took their seat. Of course, no sight of the teacher. I stared blankly out the window and was almost blinded by the sun. My thoughts started running in mind about yesterday, what might happen, and that arm I brought home from my trip._ Oh crap, I haven't told Asuma about that. He's not going to like this smell. I'm surprised I don't smell like it yet. _

My thoughts were interrupted when familiar blonde walked into the room.

"Temari! You're finally here! You still beat Kakashi though, haha," said Sakura.

"Hey," she said boringly. I stared at her as she walked to her seat. _Same mysterious face. I seriously wonder what's up with. Wait, am I still staring at her?_

I realized she was also staring at me. She had somewhat of an irritated face. I quickly turned my head. _Great, I let my thoughts run free, and I forgot I was still staring at her. Man, I'm so stupid. _

Kakashi-sensei finally got here. _Gosh, he's still wearing that scarf that covers half of his face. It's not even that cold. He must really like that scarf. _

And of course, after a long excuse, everyone yelled at him. It was kinda getting normal now. Classes flew like an arrow one after the other, and soon, it was already lunch. I joined Choji and his friends to eat outside. _At least we don't have to be in that smelly cafeteria. Though the food's gonna be awful as usual. _

We sat on the lawn in the front to get a nice view. The guys started talking about girls, sports, and other things normal teenager guys liked to talk about. I looked around the yard, and my eyes stopped to see another crowd of guys. In the middle, there was a girl, a blonde girl who looked like...

"Temari?" I said out loud. That got the attention of the other guys too, and they were staring in the same direction.

"What's Temari doing there?" asked Naruto.

"Hey, let's get a little closer and listen into their little conversation, hehe." said Kiba. Everyone agreed, and I just decided to go along with it. We got as close as we could behind a couple big bushes, and we were able to listen to the conversation.

"Hey, babe. How would you like to go on a little ride with us, hehe," said one guy. _What the heck?_

"Come on baby, just one little ride?" said another.

"You know you want to." stated a third who grabbed her hand. _I wonder what she's gonna do. She's surrounded by a bunch of strong looking guys. Maybe we should interfere before anything bad happens. I should tell the other guys and-_

"THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO!" she yelled out loud. She grabbed the guy who had grabbed her hand and punched him square on the nose. She turned around, swinging her fist at the nearest target. That didn't end well for that guy, and then she kicked one guy in the.._Ouch, that's got to hurt. It's making shiver in pain. _

Two guys started to run up and were trying to get a swing at her too. Of course, she took each one down, twisting one guy's arm until it sounded like it broke and kicked the other guy in the stomach. Whoever was left ran for their lives. She grabbed her bag and started to walk off.

"EHHHH?" All of us said at the same time. All of us were shaking too. She suddenly turned around, and the other guys ducked under the bush as fast as they could. I guess I didn't get the memo.

"Well, what are you looking at? Don't mess with me!" She yelled straight at me.

"Didn't plan on it. I don't like fighting girls anyway," I simply stated. She gave me an irritated face and walked off. _Women are so scary and troublesome. Jeez..._

"Holy crap, she's scary." whined Naruto.

"She's like a scorpion. A yellow one! She's small, but her sting is deadly!" Kiba said. _A yellow scorpion? That sounded funny._

"Wow, I haven't read stuff about women like that in my book. I need to learn more about this," Sai said. _His what?_

"She's scarier than my mom!" Naruto complained.

"That's hard to do." said Shino.

"I almost peed my pants watching that. I know now not to get in her way," stated Choji.

After we collected ourselves, we headed back to class. I however remained quiet. _I definitely wasn't expecting that from her. She is just like a yellow scorpion. Where did she learn to fight like that. I feel sorry for those guys. Troublesome woman..._

The day went fast after that. After school ended, I headed home with Choji again. My phone suddenly went off, and I answered to here an excited voice,

"**Hey Shikamaru! It's Asuma. I'm going to be late again so I need you to pick up a couple things. I'll send you the directions of the destinations! See ya later!" **

He hung up and sent a couple texts of the directions. _ Late again? And now I have to do his errands. What the crap? He's such pain sometimes..._

"Hey Choji, I have to go do some errands," I told him.

"Hey, can I tag along? My parents are on a culinary business trip so I don't need to go home just yet. Besides, there isn't a lot of homework tonight," He asked. _I might as well. At least he can make the trip less boring. _

"Sure," I simply said. We walked off to the direction. The first place was the grocery store. _I guess we were running out food so time to restock. _

Asuma sent a text of the supplies we needed. There weren't that many so this wouldn't take long. After that, we finished the other errands and decided to reward ourselves with a nice cup of coffee. We stopped by the coffee shop was near by. Choji got a hot coffee, while I got a nice white chocolate iced coffee. It was rare I got these, and they were extremely rich. I was talking to Choji as we were walking out the door, and I was so distracted that I didn't see a blonde girl walking into the coffee shop straight at me.

We collided with a big thud, and I ended up spilling most of my iced coffee all over myself and her. _Great, there goes my coffee. _Since I seemed to be bigger than her, she fell straight on her butt. I looked at her and realized the terrible truth. _Crap, that's Temari! She's gonna throw a fit now. She seems pretty ticked off now. Just my dumb luck..._

Sure enough, she looked up and yelled as loud as she could,

"Hey! Watch were you're going, you big jerk!" _Maybe she didn't recognize me. _

She got up and said, "Hey wait a minute you're that guy from school that was spying on me! What's the big idea? You trying to mess with me too?_ Again, my dumb luck. _

"Pfft, no, remember? I don't like to fight with girls. You're such a troublesome woman." I calmly said.

"Hmph," she said as she got up, "Now I've got coffee all over my clothes, and it's your fault."

"My Fault? I believe this was your fault. You should have watched where you were going. At least for your sake, it was iced coffee not hot so be grateful," I said. _Actually it was my fault. Some guys just don't want to admit defeat to a girl. Jeez..._

"You're really asking for it, you jerk. Keep talking, and your face is going to be introduced to my fist!" she yelled.

"Hmph, I'd like to see you try," I replied. She was giving me a cold stare so I decided to do the same thing.

Choji, probably had enough, came between us and said,

" Ok, ok. Let's not do this here. Let's just leave, Shikamaru."_ I better just go with him. _

"Good idea, this is turning too troublesome for me," I said. _Great, I'm gonna smell like coffee for a while..._

"It's about time you leave," complained Temari as she continued her way into the coffee shop.

I turned around to look back to see if she changed her mind to come after us, and was shocked to see something totally different. _Is...she smiling?_

I was pretty shocked the rest of the way home. I said good-bye to Choji, and came to my apartment. After I entered the room and closed the door, I leaned my back against the door and looked at the ceiling. _That was strange. I thought she would be mad after that. Most people would. Most people would be fuming at the mouth. But she wasn't. She was smiling..._

_Why was she smiling?_

**Sleepy cat: End of chapter 7! mmmmm Iced-coffee sounds nice. I got one at starbucks a while ago. Tis yummy! sorry that it took so long to right. I was gone yesterday, and I had to pack for this coming trip I have next week! I'll try to write chapter 8 as soon as I can!**


	8. New target and group assignments!

Sleepy cat: Happy July the fourth, my awesome viewers! :3 Happy 236th birthday America! Dang, it's old XD anyway. How did ya like the shikatema fight last chapter, eh? There shall be plenty more to come, so don't worry your little heads!

Disclaimer: It's not mine! I admit it! I'm sowwy T_T

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~New target and group assignments?~~~~~~~

"What do you mean you weren't able to clean up the evidence?" yelled Pein as he held the man he had hired by the neck, threatening to choke him to death.

"B...but...the...the...shadow...he...interfered...I...was...the...only...who survived...please..." the man gasped.

"We can't make any mistakes! Now that the shadow has seen too much, we must act quickly. He probably has Deidara's arm too!" Pein continued as he allowed the man back the ground.

"That's..that's unfair, un!" said Deidara sadly as he slumped to the ground.

"Now that the shadow as seen Deidara's arm and probably the clay as well, we shouldn't use Deidara's bombs," Pein said. He then turned to the hired man and said,

"I'll forgive this time if you accomplish this next task. Gather as many men as you need and create bomb that could wipe out an entire building. Here's the destination. Do it Quickly. Go!"

The man ran out of the warehouse as fast as lightning.

"Should we tell Sasori's siblings?" asked Deidara.

"No, their not needed in this," Pein stated, "don't tell them about this. You may go."

Deidara nodded and left.

Pein started to walked out a different exit, but stopped to look up at the sky.

_Shadow...You're indeed someone to fear. However, if you continue to stand in my way..._

_**I'll destroy you...**_

-Shikamru's POV-

I woke up sweating this morning, something I usually wouldn't do. _It's probably because I had a nightmare of a thousand Temari's trying to punch from all directions. Women have to be the scariest species on the earth. They make sweat in their sleep so much that one could drown in one's own sweat. _

"AHHHHHHHHH! WHAT THE CRAP? SHIKAMARU!" screamed Asuma.

_Crap, I think he found the arm..._

I walked into the living room to see Asuma, panting and leaning against the wall. The closet which held the arm was across the room and open. I couldn't help but laugh just a bit. He had just screamed like a little girl.

"What's the meaning of this? Why is there an arm in the closet?" he asked.

"Oh, just little bit of evidence I retrieved from my library trip. I forgot to tell you about it. Glad you two met, hehe." I snickered.

"Remind me next time. And what's that smell?" he yelled.

"You'll get used to it soon." I insisted. I took the arm, wrapped it with a towel and placed in my room.

I ate my cereal, and got ready for school. Choji came by again, and we head off to school. _I wonder what will happen to me today. At least tomorrow is the weekend. Gosh, I hope I don't tick off Temari again. That was definitely too scary. Women are too scary and troublesome for me to deal with._

We got to our homeroom, and as usually everything was chaotic. Ino and Sakura were yelling about something I don't care about. Naruto and Kiba were arm-wrestling I believe while Hinata just stared and blushed. Sai was drawing something...again, and Shino was playing with some bugs. The other students were chatting away. Temari sat at the back of room. She looked at me and gave me ANOTHER cold stare. I quickly sat down to avoid her. _After just one incident, she probably hates. Though I can't get why she was smiling all of the sudden. I'll never get women. _

The bell rang, and no kakashi. Suddenly, a familiar face walked into the room.

"SASUKE!" All the girls screamed at the same time. I believe one of them had fainted from sight of this famed boy. _Jeez, fangirls..._

"Why wasn't Sasuke at school yesterday?" I asked Choji.

"Remember? He runs a big company so sometimes he can't come to school because of that. I can't believe someone our age runs a company by himself!" Choji explained. _Yea, that is a bit strange..._

Kakashi appeared soon after, saying, " hello everyone! Sorry I was late! There happened to be a black cat and-

"YEAH RIGHT!" yelled both Naruto and Sakura. _Aren't they tired of doing that?_

"Ahem, anyway, today we have a big project assigned!" He said with excitement. Of course, everyone answered with a moan.

"It's a group assignment," He began, but before he could continue, everyone was already picking their partners. _Of course, I'd stick with Choji. I wonder who Temari will-_

"You didn't let me finish. I'll be assigning the partners," he said which earned another moan. _Assigning partners? Oh great, what a drag..._

"Each group will be assigned a topic of something with historical importance of Japan. And now I will read off the groups," Kakashi added. _This is going to be terrible..._

"First group: Naruto and Sasuke. Your topic is over the Imperial Palace."

"WHAT? I get paired up with him? Kakashi-sensei, that's not fair." complained Naruto.

"You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit, Naruto." Kakashi told him and continued the list.

"Second group: Sakura and Hinata. Your topic will be over the history of the cherry blossoms," he said, "Third group: Sai, Shino, and Kiba. Your topic will be over the samurai. There was an odd number of students so this group will have three."

Kakashi continued down the list, " Fourth group: Ino and Choji. Your topic will be over the Nara period in Japan's history."

"What?" I said to myself. I looked at Choji, and he looked extremely worried. _Crap, I won't be paired with him. What if..._

"Fifth group," Kakashi continued, " Temari and Shikamaru. Your topic will be over the Ryu Gems. Sixth group..."

_WHAT? I'm paired with her...The scary woman that spilled my coffee. Does luck hate me now? _

I looked back, and she had a more shocked face than I did. Again, something in her senses told her that I was staring at her because she suddenly looked at me. She AGAIN gave me a cold stare and looked away with a "hmph."

Class ended, and the rest of the day ended quickly as well. My mind wasn't straight at all and don't even remember what had happen during the end of the first class and the end of the school day. I was heading out with Choji when I spotted Temari walking out as well. _Might as well...She is my partner..._

"Hey Temari," I said to get her attention, "hey, I was wondering since tomorrow is the weekend and we're partners, I thought we could go to the museum to find some information on our project. Choji and Ino are going so I thought we should go as well."

"Hmph, very well. I've got nothing else better to do. Don't expect me to do all the work for you, you got it? Be there at noon, and if you make me wait one second, I won't go easy on you like last time. You won't be able sit for a week!" She said in an irritated voice. _Oh great more threats..._

She left right away, and I turned to Choji, saying,

"Just my dumb luck."

**Sleepy cat: hahahaha oh, shika! He had it coming. He spilled one of my favorite drinks :( **

**my poor iced-coffee. For the topics, I had to look them up on the web. I didn't know there was a period called the NARA period. That's not freaky at all o_O **


	9. Sound the alarm! Museum of Doom!

**Sleepy cat:** Hey people! I was a bit lazy today so I didn't start writing my story till late at night. Hahaha, Shikamaru is having a bad influence on meh. :3 Anyway!

Shikamaru goes to the museum with Temari, Ino and Choji. Psssssssst, I think this is a double date XD hehehehehehe

Disclaimer: nothing new so far :P

enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~Sound the alarm! Museum of Doom!~~~~~~~~

-Shikamaru's POV-

_**Ring! Ring! Ring!**_

_Ugh...most...annoying...sound of...all...jeez..._I thought as I struggled to reach for the off button on my alarm. I sat up and looked at the time. I believe it was 11:00 am. It was hard to tell because I just woke up, and my eyes weren't exactly functioning. _I usually don't use alarms, but today is a special occasion. If I'm late to the museum, Temari will have my head on a platter. Jeez, women..._

I eventually got out of my bed and changed into a dark green t-shirt and jeans. I remember it might be cold today so I grabbed black jacket just in cause.

I walked into the kitchen to have my breakfast. The room however was empty. _Oh yeah, that's right. Asuma had to go to work today. I think their also working on the case about the library. Heh, their definitely behind..._

Right after I finished breakfast, there was a knock on the door. _That must be Choji and his partner..oh what's her name...Oh right, Ino..._

I opened the door to see a extremely happy Choji and a tired Ino.

"Hey Shikamaru! We better head down to the museum!" he said with excitement.

"We better hurry. It's getting really close 12," explained Ino.

"Huh?" I said as I looked at my watch. _11:45...11:45? CRAP! IT'S A 15 MIN. WALK THERE! OH MAN SHE'S GONNA KILL US.._

"Guys! We got to go now!" I yelled as I ran out the door dragging both with me.

"Shikamaru, what's the rush?" asked Choji.

"Yeah! You're hurting our wrists!" exclaimed Ino.

"If we're late, Temari is going to crush us until there's nothing left! I'd like to be in one piece, thank you very much!" I tried to explain.

"OH MY GOSH!" yelled Ino and Choji at the same time. _I think they get the idea..._

"We've got to run NOW!" I said as all three of us started running for the museum. Whatever got in our way, we just trampled. We just didn't want to die. We ran into a couple dogs who got away from their owner and started running after use. Apparently, Choji brought a couple snacks, and the dogs got a smell of it.

I think we also ran into a policeman but of course, he was too confused to do anything about it. I began to see the museum. _We're almost there. Thank goodness, we just have to get across the street. _

Of course, we didn't wait for the "walk" sign to light up. We started running across street, trying to avoid the cars. Ino was the first across. She was pretty fast, or maybe it's because there were a billion cars driving our way. I got across safetly, but Choji had a harder time.

He was half way when cars started driving passed him. He was screaming, darting, and running. I've never seen something like this before. He ACTUALLY got across without getting hit. We continued to run in the direction of the museum.

_We..got to...make...it...so...close..._

We ran so fast, I thought we broke a record. Though, I had to basically drag Choji in the last few minutes. I think we got many stares as we ran to the front of the museum. There stood Temari, cool as a cucumber. She turned to us and said,

"Heh, you made it."

All three of us sighed a relief and crashed to the ground. We were panting so hard we sounded like dogs. We probably looked like ones too after all that.

"Well come on already," Temari as she walked toward the museum. _Jeez, after all that...whatever.._

The three of us struggled to get up and walked quickly to catch up with Temari. _This isn't the first time I've been here. I actually solved a case here before. There is one thing I do remember about this place..._

"Oh my gosh, this place is huge!" exclaimed Ino. _Yeah, that part.._

I picked up a map to see if it could tell us where our topics were. Of course, the map was of no help. Just by looking at the map, I couldn't tell where we were. _Looks like we're searching..._

I turned to them and began, "Since this place is so big and the map isn't helping at all, let's split up into two groups. I'll go with Choji and-"

"That doesn't make any sense! Shikamaru, you're my partner, and we need to search for our topic not theirs," she told me.

"It does too. If I go with Choji and you go with Ino, then we have a better chance of finding what we need. We could be looking for two things at the same time and on opposite sides. If we just stuck with out partners, then it would take longer to find our own topic. Then if someone finds something, then just call us. Get it?" I tried to explained.

Temari and Ino nodded. Choji looked a bit confused though, but I just motioned to him to just go along with it. We agreed and separated to our different ways.

"Thank goodness, that worked. I thought I was going to be stuck with Temari all day," I told Choji. He nodded and then looked back at the girls, mainly. _Is...he blushing?_

"Why are you blushing?" I asked.

"I uh...well you see...um..." he tried to say.

"I think I get the picture, haha," I told him, "it's ok, I won't tell."

He nodded, and we headed into the first gallery. Choji would look for any information on the Nara period while looked for anything on the Ryu gems. The library would have been better but of course, it was blown up. So the museum was the second best choice.

The first gallery was of no help. All there was to see was a bunch of naked people. _Why do people think naked people is a good idea for art. Jeez..._

Gallery, after gallery, we searched to no end. The girls didn't seem to have any luck either. There was no call from them. We finished the first floor with no luck. We went up to the second floor hoping to find some information. Each gallery had a certain topic and theme it covered. This museum didn't just have art but plenty of other useful things. They also had books that covered the topics over what the gallery was about.

We had almost searched the whole second floor when we were thinking of giving up. _We have one more gallery to check. Please be there..._

We entered the last gallery and checked the sign to see what the theme was. Sure enough, the theme was _**The Nara period. **__Hmph, at least he got to find what he was looking for. It's too bad that...wait...is that...what I think it is?_

My eyes widen as I looked to see a sign on one of the sections of the Nara period that said _**The Ryu gems. **__Ha, my luck just got better! _

I looked at the art of the gems. There were five gems, each a different color. I looked at the description of the picture. It stated that the Ryu gems were an old legend from the Nara period. Each gem represented one of the five elements: Fire, wind, water, earth, and void. Each gem had a special power of its own.

It didn't give a lot more information on the Ryu gems, so I decided I should take a look at books that were with each exhibit. I looked down to see if there were some books.

_What?_ I looked to see an empty book tray. All the books were gone. _That's very strange. This isn't some library where you can just take the books. And all of them are gone! Great! Just Great! There goes my luck again. How troublesome..._

"Interesting..isn't it?" said voice behind me. It wasn't Choji.

I looked behind me to see something that maybe me start sweating like mad.

It was the third man from the destroyed library I had encountered.

_What? W-what's he doing here? I have to keep my cool..._

"I guess you can say that," I told him. Choji was looking in my direction. He also had the same look of fear.

"They're magnificent. Five simple gems with amazing power. A power that could crush anything in their path," the man said, "sorry, I should have introduced myself. My name is Mitsuo. Tell me, why have you visited this exhibit?

"I have a school assignment, and my topic is over the Ryu gems," I told him, " Though it's too bad all the books are gone.

"Yes, it's hard to find any information on these gems," he added, "I have to go now."

He began to walk off but then he stopped. He turned around and said, " Actually, I happen to have a book with me about the Ryu gems. Since I don't need and you're in need of one, I'll lend it to you."

He handed me a small and old book and left without another word. He looked like a man in his thirties. He had somewhat longish hair that was tied in a low pony-tail. He had long bangs that covered most of his eyes. His eyes were silver with a hint of blue. _Something about his eyes...they look...sad..._

After he left, I walked straight Choji and told him, "Choji, we have to follow that guy. Remember, he's that guy we saw that one night."

"But-

"No buts!" I told him. He decided to just go along with it. We left the gallery and followed this Mitsuo while making sure he couldn't see us.

Mitsuo's phone started ringing I believe so he stopped to answer his phone. We hid behind wall and listened in closely. He started talking,

"Are you ready to go? You better leave now or you won't get out alive. No one should be down there so you can get out quickly. Nothing is broken down there and it isn't time for it's check up, so maintenance won't be down there. I'm leaving right now. Meet me at planned destination."

He closed the phone walked faster down the stairs.

_What's he planning? Wait..._

"Choji, check you're internet on the phone," I said, "Is there anything big happening right now?"

"Hmmmm," He began as searched, " Yes, there's a meeting going on downstairs as we speak. A couple important political figures are attending. Why?"

_Oh no! They've planted a bomb HERE! Since the library didn't do anything, they plan on bombing the museum to kill the political figures. That would definitely start a war. Think...Mitsuo said something about downstairs, and something else about maintenance. I'm guessing he's talking about the floor underneath the first floor. That place has a bunch of maintenance, and it's also the best place to plant a bomb. Of course, the security's got it locked I bet, and the bombers probably sneaked in. Well that's just what we need to do. **Sneak in and don't get caught...**_

We went downstairs, and I grabbed a map. _Maybe this map can help us..._

I looked at the map and spotted a room where most security men and workers change at. _Maybe If we can get some uniforms, we can get in better...but if I remember correctly, you need an ID card so you can scan it to open the door. That allows you to go down anywhere in the bottom floor. Now I just need to get two ID cards. Maybe some of the workers left their ID cards with their clothes on accident. _

I told the Choji the plan, and we headed for the locker room. I secretly stole a pair of keys from the security guy while I bumped into him. That's one of my easy points. I can steal easily without no one noticing. I made sure no one was around, and then I unlocked the locker room. There were a couple maintenance clothes that were out. Apparently, a few of them were taking showers. We searched through their clothes, and sure enough, we found some ID cards. I changed into the clothes, took the ID cards, and left the room. _I feel sorry for the guys in the shower. They won't have any clothes. And they'll need after what I'm about to do. _

When no one looked, I came to a fire alarm and set it off. Right away, the alarms went off, and everyone instantly walked for the door. This was to make sure of the safety of the politicians and the civilians. Choji and I walked down the stairs to the gate that we needed to scan our way through. We were wearing hats so no camera's could see our face.

After scanning, we entered the hallway. We heard voices at the end of the hallway so we hid in an open room close by. We were able to listen in on the conversation.

"What's going on? This wasn't in the plan!"

"I bet it was Mitsuo. Trying to make a getaway."

"Either way, we need to get out of here or we're toast! Let's go!"

All of the men were shouting until...

_**RING! RING!**_

The men stopped talking.

_Crap it's Temari! Of all times, she has to call now?_

I hung up on her and turned off the phone. _She's going to kill me..._

"What was that?" one guy asked.

"It's nothing let's go!" another guy said.

About four or five men ran down the hallway and past where we were hiding.

"Choji, we got to set off the bomb!" I told him.

"Wait, there's a BOMB?" Choji exclaimed. _He hadn't figured it out yet? Jeez..._

I had to drag him to the room because now he knew there was bomb there. We entered the room and right there on the ground was a big time bomb. _Ah jeez, it only has a minute. What a big drag..._

"Shikamaru, we don't have time! Let's get out of here!" begged Choji.

"No! We can't this bomb is so big it will wipe out the building next to this one too!" I explained, "Innocent lives are at stake. We can't go chicken now!"

He was silent after that, and I began to examine the bomb.

_Man, it's so big! And so many wires! _

"30 seconds!" Choji said.

_Ok, ok. Think... I've dealt with bombs before, and only one wire does the trick. _

_Of course there's many wires. Hmmm, from my experience these wires over here don't do much. This wire is for the clock. These wires aren't anything either. _

"20 seconds!"

_That leaves two wires. A blue one and a red one... why is it always red and blue? never mind..._

_Gosh, I can't tell which one does the trick!_

"10 seconds!"

_Blue one...red one...blue one...red one..._

"6 seconds!"

_Why can't just ONE have a sign that says "PULL ME!"? _

"5...4...3...2..."

_CRAP, THE BLUE ONE!_

I grabbed the blue wire and yanked it out before the time reached 0. I think Choji screamed while I jumped back. We waited...and waited...and waited...

"Oh gosh, I picked the right one," I said while panting.

"I think I wet myself..." Choji exclaimed.

We both started laughing and got up.

I examined the bomb a bit more, took a couple pictures, tore it to pieces, and placed the remains in my bag. We left the room as quickly as we could.

We walked out of the museum and found the two girls waiting impatiently.

"Hey Temari, sorry we're late, we kinda-" I couldn't finish because something slammed into my face, knocking me to the ground. Temari was steaming, and was extremely angry. _Owwwwww that's going to leave a mark..._

"Jeez, Temari! Why did you do that?" I asked.

"Where were you two? Why did you hang up on me, you jerk? I bet you two didn't find anything either!" She yelled.

"Actually Shikamaru and I did find something but because of the bom-I mean the alarm went off we had to leave. We got stuck in a crowd so we could find you. We'll come back later, ok?" explained Choji. _Wow, quick thinking! _

"You still should have called us, Choji!" yelled Ino. _ Women are soo scary..._

"Let's just go. That was a wasted trip," stated Temari. Both Temari and Ino left right away. Of course, Choji and I just started chuckling a bit. We followed the girls home, and I pulled out of my bag the book Mitsuo gave me.

_The Legend of the Ryu Gems..._


	10. To live one more day

**Sleepy cat: Hey everyone I'm back from New York! And I got a BATMAN SHIRT :D fangirlism there hehehehehehehe. Anywho...I've been a bit lazy but I finally got this chapter done! **

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine but the batman shirt I got IS MINE! :D**

~~~~~~~To Live One More Day~~~~~~~~~

**-Temari's POV- **

_What a waste of a trip..._

It was 7:00 pm. I was walking down a dark black alley alone. Pein had called for a meeting for something I didn't know anything about.

_Yesterday, Shikamaru and I were supposed to find information on our group assignment, but because of the false fire alarm, we didn't have enough time to find anything about the stupid Ryu gems. Hmph, I bet Shikamaru wasn't even trying to look. He just wanted to get away from me as much as possible. Stupid coward..._

Sooner or later, I was able to see the old warehouse in sight. With a deep sigh, I walked toward the building hoping I wasn't in trouble or anything.

I entered the warehouse only to hear several of grunts and gasps. It sounded like someone was in deep pain or trouble.

_Please, Oh please don't let it be one of my brothers. If Pein has them in his grip, he can easily injure them or even..._

"You've failed for the last time! I don't have time for someone useless as you, and it's time for you to meet with your mistake!" Yelled a voice somewhere in the warehouse.

I assumed that it was Pein who was yelling, but I couldn't tell who he was yelling at. I ran toward the direction of the yelling to see a horrifying scene in front of me...

Pein was holding Mitsuo by the neck against the wall while a few other members just watched.

I could barely recognize Mitsuo. His face was almost completely covered with blood, and it seemed he also had a couple bruises and a black eye. It was so awful I almost thought I was going to puke from the sight of all the blood. I shivered as I continued to watch Mitsuo at the mercy of Pein.

Mitsuo wasn't moving a bit. It seems as if he gave up struggling a long time ago. Pein held a sharp metal rod in his hand. He's used this rod in many of his murders. It's a very deadly weapon and extremely painful as well. I wasn't sure why Pein was doing this.

_Why is Pein doing this to Mitsuo? What did he do to deserve this?_

My thoughts were interrupted when Pein raised his metal rod showing that he was about to finish off what was left of Mistuo. Mitsuo still didn't move a muscle. I guess he gave up the last little hope he had.

_Pein can't do this! We need this man! He's had enough! I need to stop this..._

"Pein, wait!" I yelled at him before he could give the blow. He stopped and looked at me for an answer.

His eyes were cold and deadly. I began to sweat and probably turned pale. _Dang it, what did I do? Stupid of me to speak out loud like that! And to Pein of all people!_

"He can be useful later on. What's the point in getting other pawns if most of them won't be any better than Mitsuo? What did he do to deserve this? I asked, hoping to change the leader's mind.

Pein stood up and let go of Mitsuo's neck. Mitsuo gasped for as much air as he could. It seems like he was being choked for a very long time.

"He was ordered to plant a bomb yesterday at the museum when a couple political were having a meeting. I gave him a couple other men under his charge to place and fix the bomb in the right place. But for some reason, they failed in doing that," he explained to me.

_Yesterday? At the museum? Why didn't he tell me he was placing the bomb there? I could have been killed! But why didn't it work..._

"If it's anyone's fault, it's Mitsuo's men, not him! He gave them the orders, yet somehow it failed. And do you even know how it didn't work?" I told him. I was still shocked at the news of yesterday's plan.

Pein was silent for a while but came up with an answer,

"We have suspicions that the shadow was involved. No one would have been able to figure out about the bomb except the shadow. The shadow is very observant of everything. One slip up by our men must have must have been enough to compromise the plan. We should have picked better men. Very well, I will spare Mitsuo's life, although, if he keeps up his mistakes, I will give no mercy. This meeting is dismissed."

Members began to leave as well as my brothers, but I did not follow them. I felt my legs begin to run towards Mitsuo. It's like I didn't have any power in them at all.

The closer I got to him, the more I could smell the blood. It was so sicking I thought I would faint.

He attempted to get up but was to weak from the lose of blood to stand right away. He was breathing really hard, trying to get as much air as he could. I knelt beside him and took out a couple handkerchiefs from my bag. I cleaned away most of the blood with one handkerchief, and then I wrapped his wounds with the rest. He still was a mess, but at least he looked better.

"Thanks," he said softly.

"No problem. You need to take better watch of your men. One more mistake and you'll be killed," I said

"What's the point anyway?" He simply said.

"What?" I asked. He gave a deep sigh and continued,

"He's going to kill me anyway. Once the job's done, he won't leave any evidence and witnesses. He'll kill me to make sure I won't spill anything. I can't escape. Every path way for me has the same dead end. I just have to make sure I can live one more day."

He then started to get up. I helped him a bit, but it seemed he got some strength back. After he was on his feet, he slowly began to walk toward the exit. He continued and continued till he was out of sight.

I was alone. _Again..._

I started to walk away as well, but I was troubled by the words Mitsuo spoke.

"_He's going to kill me anyway..."_

"_I just have to make sure I can live one more day..."_

**Sleepy cat: Awwwww poor Mitsuo! I wanna give hima hug now T_T I'm so mean to him jee...**


	11. The mighty sting!

**Sleepy Cat: Hey everyone! I wrote this story in a car so I hope my grammar doesn't suffer x) I'm also sick :P I've been coughing all day AND I had bad milk on accident -_- strange day for me :P**

**My mind hasn't been straight today, so... I didn't exactly think before what this chapter will be about! Yay for me x) here we go then :D**

**disclaimer: Naruto is not mine but I'd trade my sickness for it x)**

**~~~~~~~~The mighty sting!~~~~~~~**

_**Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!**_

_Stupid alarm clock..._

I slammed my hand onto the alarm so hard I thought it would break. _I'm never going to get used to this alarm clock...jeez..._

It was extra hard to get up this morning because I was so sore from the little trip to the museum. _And here I thought it was going to be an easy trip. Who knew the next bomb would be there. The good thing is that I was able to turn off the bomb and even find some information on the Ryu gems. Of course I wasn't expecting of getting it from Mitsuo, a hired guy for this secret group. _

I walked over to my dresser and picked up the old dusty book of the Ryu gems. It was a pretty old and big book. _I'll definitely have enough information from this. Oops...I forgot to tell Temari about this...Hmph, whatever, She'll be fine...however..._

I started to flip through the pages, and so much dust flew up I started coughing my insides out.

_Why were all the other books about the Ryu gems gone? It's not like a library where you can just take it. And most of all, why did Mitsuo have one of the books? _

I placed the book down and decided not to think much about it. With a long yawn, I walked out of my room for some breakfast. Asuma was on the couch, and he looked half-dead. _I doubt it's paperwork again..._

"So Asuma...where were you last night?" I asked.

"I...uh...er...paperwork!" he said for an excuse, but I wasn't buying it.

"That's what you've been saying for the past week! I don't believe it was **just **paperwork. What were you doing last night?"

He looked shocked and believe or not, I think he was blushing. He then sighed and said,

"I was with...a woman," he began, "at a bar." _Is that it? _

"Who was this woman, Asuma?" I asked curiously. _Asuma? With a woman? Ha! Please... he couldn't date a cat if he tried!_

"I uh can't say, but I can describe her," he said, "she had lovely red eyes with dark brown hair. And she's a bit shorter than me. That's all I can say!"

_Sounds familiar..._

"Whatever," I said. I didn't feel like pushing it anymore. I grabbed a piece of toast, changed into some nice looking clothes, and started to pack up. I grabbed the book over the Ryu gems and placed into my bag. _Temari will probably want to see it. I better bring so I won't have my head chopped off. _

After I finished, I walked out of the apartment. _That's right. Choji said something about going to school early today, so he won't come by this morning. Well, I wasn't in the mood for talking anyway...well...actually...I'm never in the mood._

_Today is feeling pretty nice compared to saturday...well...so far...Something bad will happen to me today._

I arrived at school with a few minutes to spare. Choji looked tired. He said he had to work on some art project due today. Besides that, everything else was normal.

Sakura and Ino were yelling at each other. Naruto was preparing some stupid prank. Kiba was taking a nap, Sai was drawing, Hinata was...blushing, and Shino was playing with some bugs he probably found in the classroom. Sasuke...wasn't there...again...

I spied **THE** blonde girl behind the seat that I usually sit at. Temari seemed she was deep in thought. However, somehow she sensed me, and she looked at me right away. _And of course, she's giving me a dirty look. I better watch out now..._

Choji started laughing at me because I probably looked scared to the bone. _Hmph, at least he's not sitting in front of the yellow scorpion!_

Class started the same way. Kakashi came late and got yelled at. He reminded us about our project which also remind me about telling Temari about the book I found. However, I didn't do it yet. _Temari is sure to me mad at me so this isn't the place to do it. I'll wait till later..._

Kakashi's class went by really fast. Next was gym class which I did not enjoy. Gai-sensei is killing me. He makes us run about 10 laps, then do push-ups right after. I was pretty happy when that was over. Next was Jiraiya's class which made me decide I would tell Temari the news then. The teacher usually talks about porn and never pays attention to the students.

I sat between Choji and Temari in the back. Itemari had a couple papers out with an open water bottle. Ino was close in front of me, and I could tell Choji was staring at her. Class started, and the teacher went on and on about his little porn books. _This is my chance..._

"Temari," I whispered. She turned to me and waited for me to speak.

"At the museum I found some information about the Ryu gems. I forgot to tell you about it. It was kinda chaotic that day," I explained as I pulled Ryu gems book out of my bag and handed to her. _Here it comes...her mighty sting!_

"Oh, well good job. We can talk about it sometime later today," she replied. _What? She's...fine with __it? Where's her sting?_

She handed the book back to me and I put back into my bag. However, when I tried to zip it up, there was something caught in it. With a sigh, I tugged and pulled on the obstructing item. It was really tough and caught in.

"Ugh...Just...a...bit...more!" I said to myself.

It was getting really close to being free, and I pulled with all my strength,

"Gah!" I exclaimed as I yanked it out with full thrust. My arm went flying behind me and knocked Temari's water bottle over. It spilled all over her papers and lap. _Crap! What have I done? _

She let out a big gasp and turned really red. It was like she was steaming with rage. She turned to me and screamed,

"SHIKAMARU! WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" _There's her sting...I'm doomed..._

She instantly grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and started shaking the crap out of me. She forced me to bump right into Ino. She turned around and yelled,

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Shut-up, baka!" yelled Temari.

"WHAT?" Ino jumped out of her seat ready to start a cat fight. Thankfully, Choji got out of his seat, grabbed Ino by the waist, and held her back.

"Ino! Please! Stop!"

"Let me go, Choji! I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind!"

"Shikamaru! I'm gonna beat the crap out of you, you big jerk!"

By now, Temari had me on the ground, choking me to death while Choji was holding back a screaming and kicking Ino.

_Oh man...here we go...her mighty sting..._

"YOU FOUR! STOP THIS INSTANT!" yelled Jiraiya. We all grew deadly silent. _We're so done for..._

"I will not tolerate fighting in my class. You four obviously have no self-control at all. You all need a lesson to learn self-control! A detention for each of you will do!" He continued.

"A detention?" we all said. _Great, I knew today wouldn't be normal. _

All four of you will have to stay after school. Don't even think about escaping. Got that?" he explained. We nervously nodded our heads, but before he could continue, the bell rang. All four of us received a slip for detention and continued to lunch.

"Good going, Shikamaru!" yelled Temari.

"Hey, it was an accident! You need to control your temper!" I told her.

"I don't see why I got one," complained Ino.

"It's because you threatened to scratch Temari's eyes out. And because Choji held you back, he got one too!" I told her. Choji started blushing again. Both Ino and Temari stomped away and left me alone with Choji.

"Aww, man. This is my first detention. My mom is going to kill me!" Choji said.

"Sorry, you should have not gotten one. You did the right thing though," I assured him.

"Shikamaru!" yelled a voice from behind. I looked behind to see Kiba and Naruto. Both weren't in my history class.

"Hey, we heard that you, Choji, Temari, and Ino got detentions! That sucks!" Naruto said.

"Huh? How did you hear about it so quickly?" I said with amazement.

"News travels fast in this school. Basically the whole knows about this, hahahaha!" said Kiba.

"Great...how troublesome..." I said as I walked to lunch with Kiba, Naruto, and Choji. The guys just laughed as we entered the cafeteria.

_**However, we did not notice the four pairs of eyes that were staring at us...**_

**Sleepy cat: yay! 'tis finished! Pfft, I remember my first detention! Hahahaha! I got in trouble with meh friend hehehehe :3 It sucked but it was funny at the same time! Shikamaru gets da taste of DETENTION! dun dun DUN!**


	12. Detention turned to Adventure!

**Sleepy cat: sorry I've been a bit lazy( shikamaru is rubbing off on me :P ), also I watched Thor and Mirror, Mirror. Thor was pretty good, loved the music! Mirror, Mirror...was o-k...though I love the dwarf CHUCK! or CHUCKLES! also I'm still sick -_- pfft, my luck to get a cold in the summer XD **

**Disclaimer: Naruto ain't mine! I'm sorry! **

**~~~~~~~Detention turned to Adventure!~~~~~~**

**-Shikamaru's POV-**

_Why does this always happen to me?!_

I gave a deep sigh as my last class of the day was dismissed by the bell. But I wouldn't be able to go home and a good dinner and a nap. I had stay after school with Temari, Choji, and Ino in detention.

_It was a total accident and SHE had to flip out on me. Sure I got most of her papers wet, but it was a complete accident. Jeez...woman are so...troublesome..._

"Awww man. Now we have to stay at school for forever! And I'm already getting hungry!" complained Choji.

"It can't be that bad, can it? We just stay here for so long then leave. Just that simple!" said Ino, trying to cheer up poor Choji.

"We would not have been in this mess if it wasn't for Shikamaru," said Temari. _Pfft, she's the one who freaked out of a couple of papers..._

"Whatever..."

Choji and Ino called their parents right away, telling them about our little incident. Temari didn't seem to care about telling anyone. _I don't think Asuma will like this... But I don't have to worry about telling him. He's at work...or with that mysterious lady of his..._

All four of us packed our bags and headed for detention.

Our history teacher told us where it was and other information. From what I heard, we have to spend a lot of time there. However, I also heard the teacher sleeps most of the time which is a relief.

The detention room was basically across the school. I felt like I was walking to prison or something like that.

We finally found the room, but it was dead silent. The room had no windows and was pretty cramped. No one was there, however, and it was dead silent. We spread ourselves around the room. We probably didn't want to sit by each other after the incident. I sat in the back by the air conditioning. It was burning up like mad! Temari sat in the front. She wanted to stay as far away from me as she could. _Well, I don't want to sit by her either..._

Our teacher finally came after a couple minutes flew by. He was a short, old, and fat man who seemed like he didn't care about his job. He closed the door, told us to do homework, sat down, and fell asleep. We all silently did our own business.

Minute by minute, Time started to fly like an arrow. Choji was complaining about being hungry, Temari was doing homework still, and Ino was playing with her hair.

_I guess all the teachers are gone by now. Too bad for this guy, staying after school hours. Man, this is so boring. How much longer? 15 minutes? Gosh, I'm never going to get out of here. I've still got plenty of work to do. First of all, I have this uprising case of the bombs, and now, I've got to-_

My thoughts were interrupted with the sound of footsteps approaching the door. The other three seemed to hear it too, for each one of them immediately stopped what they were doing. The teacher however was still asleep. All four of us stared at the open door and waited for what was to come.

At some point, the footsteps stopped, and we were all puzzled. Then suddenly, a big figure jumped in to view. He had orange hair and looked REALLY mad. I immediately recognized him as one of that bully's, Sakon, minions. With a big grin on his face, he yelled,

"Well, lookie here! How funny to meet you here! It's too bad because you're not leaving this room!"

With that, he slammed the door closed, and I heard a small click in the door which I assumed he locked it. _How the heck did he get the key? Wait, what's going on? _

We were silent for about 10 seconds till...

"Did he just lock us in here?!" yelled Temari as she ran up to the door and tried to open it in vain.

"Why is he here in the first place? School hours are over!" said Ino.

"Aww, guys! If we don't get out soon, I'm gonna starve to death!" whined Choji.

All at once everyone started mumbling, whining, and grumbling. _Oh my gosh..._

"Guys, can you just shut up?! We need to get out of here instead of all this troublesome complaining!" I yelled. I had just about enough from this school.

I walked up to the door and started thinking of possible ways of getting out.

_I could call for help...nah, takes too much time. We need to figure out what's going on. Should I break down the door or just pick the lock? We probably don't want to wake the teacher up...so pick the lock it is._

I asked Ino for a hair pin and went to work. I slid the pin into the lock, carefully trying to put in place.

_So...close...almost...got it..._

"SHIKAMARU, MOVE!" yelled a voice from behind. I looked behind me and dodged just in time for Temari to crash foot right into the door. The door flew open, and I was left speechless.

"That's how you do it, Shikamaru. Now let's go figure out what's going on," she said as she walked by me. _Pfft, women..._

All four of us walked out of the room. Surprisingly, the teacher was still asleep. He was one heavy sleeper.

We walked along the dark, quiet hallway. We were all confused of why one of Sakon's henchmen were here, and also why they locked us in the room.

We soon heard soft whispering at the end of the hallway. We believed the voices were coming from a room that contained many offices, including the prinicpals office, and we got close enough to hear some of the conversation.

"Did you deal with them?" said a voice which I recognized as Sakon.

"Locked in their own detention room. Heh, too bad for them," said another voice.

"Well, let's hurry up and get the papers. We're almost through the door," said Sakon.

"Haha, with those papers, we'll actually aced the exams for sure!" said another.

_The exams?! Their planning to cheat! That's why they locked us in the room so we wouldn't get in their way. _

"We have to do something," whispered Choji, "We can't just let them cheat on the exams."

"What can we do? Their the biggest, baddest bullies on the planet!" said Ino.

"Ino, go get some guts. And while you're at it, some brains wouldn't hurt either!" exclaimed Temari.

_Crap..._

Ino turned really red and yelled, "Shut up, Temari! Or I'll shove my fist-"

"What was that?!" said one of the voices.

"Go check it out!" said Sakon.

And with that, we ran in the speed of light around the corner. We made in time for the big, orange-haired had just come out of the room to check. He stood therefor a while but soon he went back to the room.

"Ok here's the plan," I began, "Choji you draw their attention. You'll be able to draw the big guy out, possibly another person too. Ino, you go call the principal. Temari and I will go to the room and find a way to get those papers before they do. Got it?"

They all nodded, but of course Temari had a irrated face since she was paired with me.

Ino started running back to the detention room to get her phone while Choji ran toward the room. He got really close to the door and looked back at me. I gave him a nod, and he replied with a big gulp. With that, he jumped in front of the door and yelled,

"Hey! Stupids!" Then he started running away like heck.

Less then two seconds I heard, "You two! Stop him!"

After that, the big guy ran out, followed by another guy who had really dark brown hair.

_I hope Choji will be ok till the principal gets here..._

Once they were out of sight, Temari and I walked quietly to the room. I peaked in to see if there was any way to get in without being seen. I spotted Sakon with a red-headed girl who were trying to break into the principal's office. It didn't seem to be working for them. I looked for another way to get into the office without getting caught, but I couldn't find one.

"I don't know how we're going to get in," I told Temari.

"The office has window. We can go through there," she said.

"What?! But it's locked!"

"We don't need to worry about that!"

"We are not breaking the window."

"NO! I know how to unlock windows easily."

I gave her an odd face. _How does she know how to open windows?_

"Don't give me that look!...And don't ask how I know how to!" she told me, "It's going to work. Let's go!"

I followed to the nearest exit and walked out towards the window. We had to get through some bushes and flowers to get there, but we made it. Once we got there, Temari took out a hair pin she carried with her and started to work on the window. It only took less than a minute till she was done. I was pretty amazed at her skill but also freaked out. She climbed into the room, and I followed after.

"Ok, let's find those papers. But be as quiet as possible!" I said.

Temari started looking in the desk while I looked in the cabinets.

_Crap, so many files and papers. How troublesome... This is going to take forever..._

"Shikamaru."

I turned around and saw Temari with a file in her hand.

"Found them," she said with a grin. _Wow, that easy, huh?_

"We're almost through!" yelled a voice on the other side of the door.

_Crap, their almost done!_

"Temari! We need to go, Now!" I told her.

She didn't even hesitate one bit. She out of the room in no time. I closed all the cabinets and other things we messed up. I climbed back out and closed the window. We left just in time for they had just opened the door when we left.

We ran back to the detention room to see if Ino made any progress.

"I've contacted the principal, and she'll be here soon," she told us.

We just need to stay clear of those bullies," said Temari.

"I hope Choji is alright," exclaimed a worried Ino.

"**GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

We ran out of the room to see a freaked out Choji.

"Choji! You made it!" I said.

"They...are...are...c-coming...we...must...leave," Choji panted.

"Hahaha, There you are!" yelled a voice.

We all gasped as we saw Choji's chasers.

"Oh look, his loser squad is here too," the big guy said with a big cheesy grin. However, the grin disappeared when he spotted the exam papers in Temar's hand.

"What?! You've got the papers? How about you hand them over, and we might spare you guys, hahaha!" he continued.

"How about we...RUN!" yelled Choji as he started running away.

"Get them!" yelled the big man.

The rest of us starting running after Choji. We ran through hallway after hallway, floor after floor. Until...

"We've hit a dead end!" Ino exclaimed as we came to the end of a hallway. We turned around to see our pursuers closing on us.

"Hahaha, looks like you made a bad turn. Now, hand over those papers!"

"We're not going to let you cheat!" said Temari.

"There's nothing you can do!" said a new voice. It was Sakon and the red-head girl, and they joined the two other guys. We were cornered. No way out...

_Jeez...how troublesome...I was really hoping not to use any force on them...looks like I'll have to-_

"**THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!" **yelled a voice.

We all looked to see who the new comer was. It was none other than the Principal, Tsunade.

"Crap! It's the Principal. Let's get out of here!" yelled Sakon. They tried to run away, however, Tsunade had brought a couple friends. There was Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and Kurenai-sensei. They were able to corner them and bring them back to the principal. Tsunade was red of anger and was completely ticked off.

"I will have a word for you four. Take them to my office!" she said as the teachers escorted them to her office. Tsunade then turned to us and said,

"Thank you all. I'm glad there were people here to stop those four. For that, I'll make sure that detention of yours will be written off record. You may go home now."

We all left the school, laughing and talking about our little adventure. We went our separate ways, and I finally came home. I entered my apartment to see Asuma, sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper, and smoking. He looked up at me and said,

"Well, what happened to you?"

**Sleepy cat: HI! BYE!**


	13. Worst Disguise ever!

**Sleepy cat: Hey everyone! Just came from the doctor and got two shots -_-. Just a regular check up and then BOOM, one shot in the arm and another in the shoulder. Jeez! It's too bad I have a phobia of needles XD ANYWAY!**

**I was thinking...since school is starting up I might write just one chapter week. Maybe two. I want to to know what the readers think of this so please review and tell me if you like the idea! :D**

**~~~~~~~~~~Worst disguise ever!~~~~~~~~~**

**-Shikamaru's POV-**

After the little adventure in detention, the rest of the school week was pretty much normal. The four bullies we encountered were probably stuck in detention for the rest of the year.

Of course, even though I've only been to school for about two to three weeks, school was getting closer to a close or the summer. I still wondered why Asuma pushed me into school so close to the end the year. Well, that was fine with me anyway. I couldn't wait till school was over, and it will come quickly.

Because of the light homework load this week, I had a free weekend and didn't have anything plan for it. I wasn't rushing into my group project with Temari, and truthfully, I wasn't looking forward to working with her. So this weekend I decided to look into the attempted bombing last week.

There hadn't been any news or bombings after the incident of the museum. I wished that last week's problem would've been the last. However, I had an uneasy feeling that it was just the beginning.

Asuma had to leave for a meeting, so I had the apartment to myself. Now I would be able to work in peace.

I had a couple newspapers on the table. Each newspaper had at least one article talking about the library and how the fault belonged to China. However, don't always believe everything you read.

I grabbed an apple and a glass of water and sat at the table with papers everywhere. I picked up one of the newspapers and starting reading one of the articles. The title of it was:

_Library Bombing: China Prime Suspect! _

I reflected on my last trip there, and how Choji first learned of my secret. I was still shocked on how careless I was to let Choji, of all people, know about it. Now I've put him in danger because he knows my identity. _Hmph, that's just troublesome..._

I also remembered the clay all over the wall and the arm I had discovered.

_It's odd by itself to see an arm hanging about like that, but then the clay was just out of the ordinary. Why was there clay there in the first place? It's obvious that the bomb was placed on the second floor, but to have clay scattered everywhere is strange. There must have been a lot of clay there though I don't know why. _

I then reflected on the museum incident.

_Just to think that everyone in the building had no clue what could have happened to them. It's a good thing we got there in time to disarm the bomb. Now between these two bombings, there was only one thing in common. _

Mitsuo...

_He was there for both of them. In first one, it seemed he was just there to clean it up. However, in the second, he was there for the bomb. I wonder why he wasn't on clean-up duty. Did their bomber get replaced or killed? _

Then I remembered the book Mitsuo gave me.

_It's strange enough for all the books on the exhibit were gone, but then Mitsuo surprisingly had one of those books. It's not a library where you could just waltz right in and borrow book. You read it and you leave it. Yet, all of them were gone except the one Mitsuo gave me. Why did he have one? A henchman with a random book over the ryu gems. If I remember correctly, the ryu gems were these powerful rocks that symbolized one of the elements. There were five gems for five elements. The elements were fire, water, wind, earth, and heaven. Of course, I believe them to be a myth and that is all. However, it is still confusing why Mitsuo had a book over them. _

I leaned back and let out a big sigh. All of these past events were giving me a headache and were just plain troublesome.

_How am I going to figure out their next target, and what they are really after? It's not like the information I need is going to be knocking on my door..._

_**Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!**_

I rushed to the door, knocking a couple things to get over there, and opened the door. There stood Choji, panting, sweating, and looked like a red tomato.

"Shikamaru! I...I got..some...information..." he panted.

I allowed him in, and Instantly, he crashed on my couch. I quickly got a glass of water for him which he chugged it all in 10 seconds. After calming down, he said,

"I was walking around Tokyo when I saw one of the henchmen we saw at the library. It seemed he was heading to the Takeo bar. I ran as fast as I could to tell you this."

"A henchman?!" I said, not believing what I was hearing. _If we can get some information from this guy, we can figure out the next target and possibly who is behind all this. _

"Choji, we need to find this man. He'll have valuable information for us," I told Choji.

"Well, let's go right now!" he said, jumping off the couch.

"Choji! We're not allowed to go to that bar! Only People over the age of twenty-one can enter, and we're sixteen. Also, you don't just go in, face first. Once your face is exposed to the enemy, they will remember that face. If they keep seeing the same face, they'll get suspicious, and we do not want that.

That's why we go in disguise. This bar isn't the nicest of bars, and they don't even check Ids to see if you're actually twenty-one. You just have to look twenty-one. You find a big group and walk in at the same time as them. We have to go quickly before our target leaves. I've got a couple disguises in my room we can use."

I took him to my room and showed him the clothes in my closet. There were a bunch of strange ones since I took a couple disguises from other countries. I grabbed a black hoodie, blue jeans, sunglasses, and sneakers.

I also had a supply of fake facial hair. It looked and felt real, and you just simply stick it on. I didn't feel like going all out so I was just going to use a simply black mustache.

After I finished, I looked over to see how Choji as doing.

_What the..._

I could not believe what I was seeing.

Choji had the worst disguise ever! He looked like an crazy man who didn't know how to dress properly. He had a brown beard that was at least two feet long. He was wearing these big sunglasses and a red cowboy hat. I remembered I got that from America. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a purple button down shirt that was busting at the buttons. He had really tight jeans and white boots. _Did I really use all of that for disguises?!_

"Well, how do I look, Shikamaru?" he asked. _ I really don't feel like telling him he looks like a freak show..._

"Uh...you look...fine," I lied but continued, "we need to go now. Let's hope he hasn't left the bar yet."

We left instantly and headed for the bar. It wasn't long before the bar was in sight. However, it was also getting dark outside which was both good and bad. The good part is that you can easily escape in the dark, but the bad part is that people are crazier at night.

There was a big man standing in front of the bar. I assumed he was the one who would be looking out for any teenagers, trying to get in. Thankfully, a big group of people, who seemed like bikers, were heading there too. We walked behind them and blended in with them. I could tell Choji was a bit nervous, walking past the big security guy, but we were able to sneak in just fine.

The bar was definitely a sight to see. There was loud music playing with a couple dancers on a stage. I was able to spot about ten drunk people in one minute. There was plenty of shouting and cussing, and there even was a small fight which was soon broken up. Choji and I sat a booth and started to look around for our target.

It took about five minutes to spot him. He was sitting at the bar counter, and from the looks of it, he was pretty drunk. He was slobbering and falling off his chair several times. _This is going to be easy..._

I nodded at Choji, and we both walked up to the man. We sat on each side of him and got a nice big whiff of the alcohol from him. Not even ten seconds later, this guy turns to me and says,

"Well, hello there, part..partner," he began, "hows 'bout getting me 'nuther drink."

_This guy is a bit too drunk. Well, we'll just have to work with that. _

"Someone needs to talk with you," I said, "and I've been sent here to get you."

I was planning on talking to this guy alone. I just needed to get him out of the bar somehow.

"Som..Someone?" he said, "Can't yous see I'ma busy? They can..can come here. I ain't movin nowhere!"

_Looks like the hard way.._

"I'm sorry, but you have to come with us," I said as I gave Choji wink. Choji got my message and grabbed the helpless drunk. He tried to struggle, but since he was too drunk, he wasn't making any progress. He started to yell at me,

"Hey...Hi! Let me g..go. I's still drinkin back there!"

We almost made it out of the door until I felt a big hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see a big dirty looking man along with a couple other big guys behind him. He sure looked ticked off.

"You're not taking that man anywhere!" The big guy said, "that drunk owes me some money, and he does not leave till I have it!" _Crap, just great! _

"Don't worry. He'll get your money. We just need to borrow him for a short while," I tried to explain to him.

Of course, this just made the man even more angry. He grabbed my shirt and pulled me to eye-level.

"I don't think so, buddy!"

"Let go of my shirt before it gets messy."

"Ha! Like a little man like you could do-"

Before he could finish his speech, I gathered all my strength to knee him right in the gut.

He let go of me right away, started to hug his stomach, and moan really loud. Then, I landed a nice punch to the face to finish him off. He fell backwards, making a loud thud.

His men rushed to his aid, then one yelled out,

"He took out the boss! He's going to regret this! Get him!"

At that moment, I grabbed Choji and the drunk man and made a run for the door. We had to run around tables and booths to get away from our pursuers. One of the men bumped into another gang and spilled a drink that a man ( I assumed was the boss of that gang) was holding. The boss a pretty offended, and it went down hill after that. Choji and I could hear yelling, cussing, and fighting burst forth as we ran out the door. _Oh man we got lucky there was another gang there..._

We took our captive to an alley where no one could see us. We sat the drunk man down and allowed him to catch his breath. I then knelt down to meet him eye to eye and said,

"Who are you working for?"

He remained silent.

"Who are the people you are working for?" I said again.

He still remained silent. I had just lost it. I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall, yelling,

"I'm about to turn you over to the police unless you give me the information! Do you want to rot in jail or give me the simple information?!"

He was definitely shocked and stuttered, " I..I...can't say! T.t...t...the boss...w..will k..kill me!"

"You're about to be dead if you don't answer me correctly!" I yelled back.

"Please! Please don't hurt me! Ok, ok! I work for some group called...um...uh"

"What group?!"

"T...the Akatsuki! Please don't hurt me!"

_Akatsuki? Isn't that the group Asuma and his department have been tracking for months?_

"What is their next target?!"

He grew quiet.

"I said, What's their next target?!"

"The Imperial palace!"

_The imperial palace?! That's not good..._

"What is this Akatsuki's goal?"

"I...I don't know. They don't tell me anything! I'm just a man for hire! Please let me go!"

I took a deep breath and grabbed the man by the arm. I startedwalking, taking the man with me. The man was really confused and said, "W-where are you taking me?"

"To the police."

"What?! But you said-

"I lied."

The man became silent. I looked at Choji, who was shocked and startled by my performance. Choji came to and walked behind me. We both headed out to the police station to deliver a present.

**~~~~~~~Later on~~~~~~~**

"What the-, Hey Kenji! Come out here. Look what I found!"

A police man joined his fellow co-worker to see a messed up looking man with cuffs on outside the police station. He looked really mad and scared at the same time.

"Hey, look there's note on him."

"Well, what does it say?"

The two men read the message and look up smiling,

"Hey you know what, he does look like that guy who robbed the bank a couple weeks ago! We've been searching for this man for weeks. Looks like we got lucky, Kenji!"

"But how did he get here?"

"Who cares? He's basically gift wrapped! This makes our job easier!"

The two grabbed the man and took him into the station, but not before one of them got a good smell of him.

"Whoo! This guy needs one heck of a shower!"

**Sleepy cat: hahahahahaha, I love this chapter! Time to eat!**


	14. Preparations for the Big Day!

**Dear readers,**

**This is sleepycat! I would like to say sorry for not updating for the past 2 months. School has been very harsh for me, and I WILL BE CONTINUING THIS STORY! :D I hope that everyone is having a good time at school!**

**I will be creating other stories along with this one. HAVE NO FEAR! Thank you readers for being patient with me! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!**

**Love, SleepyCat. **

**DISCLAIMER: yes yes i know it's not mine sheesh...**

~~~~~~~~~~~Preparations for the big day!~~~~~~~~~~

**-Shikamaru's POV-**

_**YAWN...**_

That was all I heard for the past 3 hours.

Here I was at school for another miserable day of my life. After that adventure at the bar last night, school was even more boring than before. While I wasn't affected at all by the late night last night, I couldn't say the same for Choji, and while I usually enjoyed sitting by him, I was completely annoyed out of my wits by Choji's continual yawning.

_**YAWN...**_

"I sure hope that's the last time we have to go to THAT bar," Choji whispered to me as he stretched his arms.

_As if I would ever take you back there again. Sheesh, I forgot how troublesome having a partner was..._

After his long stretch, Choji grabbed a potato chip bag_**(WOW THAT"S NEW) **_and started to munch away like he always did every class. Soon, his long yawns were replaced by his loud munching which was even more annoying. I decided to strike a conversation to stop him from eating,

"Choji, do you remember what that drunk man we interrogated said? About the Imperial Palace?"

Choji paused his munching and gave it a couple seconds to think about before giving me an answer, "Oh yeah, I remember something about the Imperial Palace being the next target of the aka-whatever-their-called group. Shouldn't we tell the authorities?

"No, that isn't the best of options right now. Besides, no one would believe two sixteen year olds, and we could be in trouble if they figured out we were at a bar. We'll have to stop the next attack on the Imperial Palace."

"Are you kidding me, Shikamaru?! It's basically impossible for citizens like us to get in there! Only people in power can go there. Plus, they've got more guards than how many hamburgers I could eat in 5 minutes! It's clearly impossible, even for the Shadow!"

"Choji, we have to. Sure it's going to be a complete drag and a pain in neck, but we can't just allow the Imperial Palace to fall victim to another bomb! I've done stuff like this before, so we'll be fine."

"Well, I'm no James Bond like you! How do expect me to do help you with this?"

_Stubborn little...sigh..._

"There will be food for a reward."

Less than two seconds, Choji jumped up and screamed at the top of his lungs,

"_**ALRIGHT! LET'S GO AND KICK THE BAD GUYS' BUTTS!"**_

_Crap..._

Everyone immediately looked back at Choji and me with several looks that were saying, "What the heck," or "You're a complete freak." Even Jiraiya looked up from his perverted book to see what in the world was going on. Choji immediately realized what he had just said, turned completely red, and then stuttered,

"I...uh...I-I w-was talking about playing er...video games! with Shikamaru! Yeah, that's right, video games! Hahaha, sorry about the interruption. Continue with your words of wisdom, Jiraiya-sensei!"

I started to slouch in my chair, trying to hide my redden face for everyone to see.

_A drag...what a complete drag..._

**-AFTER SCHOOL-**

"I'm so sorry, Shikamaru! I just get excited when there's food on the line!" blubbered Choji as we walked to my apartment.

"Forget about it. No one figured out what we were talking about, so we're good," I told him. _Though we could've done without the humiliation..._

"So you're mom is alright with you staying at my apartment for a while, Choji?"

"Yup! Though, I can't stay too long."

"That's fine. We don't need a lot of time anyway..."

I opened the door and allowed a still very tired Choji into the apartment. I looked around for Asuma, but I remember about him working later than usual. I grabbed my laptop, and both Choji and I sat on the rough couch. I immediately went straight to work...

"What are you looking for, Shikamaru?" asked Choji.

"I'm looking for big events coming up that take place at the Imperial Palace. The Akatsuki will plan to attack when something big is occurring. It will probably be something political, maybe a meeting of some sort," I explained to Choji while I typed for some ideas.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**.**

"Man! I've found nothing! I assume that it's that important to not be released to the media! But now I won't be able to figure out anything! Ugh, this is so troublesome!"

_How will I be able to stop the Akatsuki when I can't figure out anything from this stupid, good-for-nothing, fraggin..._

I was about to throw my laptop when I eyed a letter on the table in the kitchen. I quickly ran to the table with Choji right behind me.

"It's to Asuma," I told Choji. I then started to read the letter out loud,

_**Asuma Sarutobi,**_

_**You have been assigned to a new mission. You, along with several other agents, will go the ambassadors meeting at the Imperial Palace. The date is tomorrow, and you must arrive at 6:00 pm. exactly. This is of the upmost importance, and we must not fail. We will brief you about more information later. **_

_**FID( Federal Investigating Department).**_

"Wow, what coincidence!" exclaimed Choji. _I couldn't agree more..._

"Now it's the time to figure out how to get in..."

"If you haven't read the fine print, you should see that it says, '_**upmost importance**__.' _Now there'll be even MORE security, plus super-duper agents!"

"Trust me. I have a pretty good Idea..."

**SLEEPYCAT: hahahahaha, this chapter cracked me up! XD**


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